Blessed
by Whimsicalscrawls
Summary: Falling down the well wasn't in her agenda. Neither was being a god or travelling across feudal Japan in the company of a misanthropic demon lord. Are you ever at the wrong place at the wrong time? Forest spirits, capricious gods, time- loops, talismans and more! Sess,OC. Post-canon.
1. Prologue: Of Wells and Giant Crows

_**Author's rant: So yeah, I know 'Where All Roads Meet" is nowhere and I've been a very, very naughty author. If you want to blame something, blame the system for making such a nervous wreck out of me. I had three huge exams (think USMLE- like), and from the huge stress from the exams was born this little gem called "Blessed." Hope you like.**_

 _ **o.o.o.o**_

 _ **Summary:** A young medical student falls down the well in Higurashi shrine, and is transported five hundred years back to the feudal era where she meets a god that gives her his power, making her a 'human god'. Destiny binds her life to that of a snobbish, arrogant, demon lord, who only seeks to defeat the strongest opponent in battle. But can a human actually take the place of a god? Is everything so black and white as it seems? And can a wish come true really make you happy? Inuyasha fanfic. Post-canon._

 _ **...Blessed...**_

* * *

 _ **Prologue: Of wells and Giant Crows**_

 _ **...**_

On a warm summer afternoon, when the air was filled with the scent of warm earth and the lull of birdsong, Sachiko Hayashi, twenty-one years of age, found herself peering down an old waterless well in the storage room of Higurashi shrine.

 _I…should probably not be here,_ she thought, turning back to look out the door, and seeing nobody, stared down the well again. There was something off about it. _What is this well anyway? Is it like a wishing-well?_

The smell of dust and mold hung in the stagnant air of the well house. The floorboards creaked ominously, eerie scratching sounds of no identifiable origin made themselves heard from time to time. _Probably the wind,_ she supposed, somewhat creeped out.

 _Maybe I should put in a coin and see._

A hundred yen coin was promptly unearthed from the depths of her purse. Sachiko ran her thumb over it, giving the coin an unnecessary polish. She thought she had outgrown the phase where one believed in nonsense such as magic, but embarrassing as it was, it seemed she hadn't. However, though she had many things she coveted - like that new model of laptop, or the affections of a certain Soichiro Honda, standing in that musty well house where time seemed to stand still, all her concerns somehow seemed…trivial.

"Never mind all that" _,_ she muttered breathlessly, _I'm just checking…_

Sachiko took a deep breath, holding the coin over the mouth of the well, closed her eyes and _wished_ -

And then the coin was slipping away from her hand, falling into the darkness of the gaping mouth of the well before she could trap it with her fingers, before she had a chance to make her intentions known to any deity that may have been listening...

The coin made a 'thud' sound as it hit the bottom of the well. The ensuing silence seemed to mock her incompetence.

 _Well, shit._

Sachiko clicked her tongue against her teeth, feeling a little more annoyed with the world than she usually was. _What a waste of money._ She leaned over the well and glared into the darkness at the coin she couldn't see.

 _Maybe that's my punishment for skipping class._

The walls of the well-house suddenly seemed to close in on her. A mild yet unnerving feeling of claustrophobia settled in the pit of her stomach, making her skin crawl and her hair stand on its end.

The 'ping' of her cellphone startled her more than it should have. She fished it out from her purse, cringing when she saw the message.

' _How are you feeling?'_

 _Ah right,_ she thought, _I'm supposed to be sick._

' _Hi',_ she typed back, ' _m bettr nw. Thnks.'_

A ping marked the next message, ' _That's good to hear. By the way, being sick is not an excuse for omitting vowels.'_ And _' Stop butchering the language, if you don't mind.'_

 _I forgot who I was talking to,_ she rolled her eyes, smiling, ' _Right, sorry',_ she typed, adding a sweat-drop emoji for emphasis, leaning against the well.

' _Apology accepted. Goodbye Sachiko. Rest well. '_

' _Bye Rhi'_

' _I prefer Rhiannon'_

' _Bye Rhiannon'_

"Man, everything is so formal with her", she smiled and turned to leave.

Only, she couldn't.

* * *

 _(Approximately 500 years ago)_

On the Summit of the snowbound peaks of Mount Tengu, a demon lord clad in white delicately flicked bits of entrail from his claws. His fair hair whipped around his face in the icy mountain wind, snowflakes danced around his tall, ethereal form.

The corpse of the oversized crow demon lay on the snowy ground, a hole in its chest, eyes frozen in its final expression of surprise. Dark, coppery blood trailed from where the body was sliced, staining the snow a deep crimson. Strewn across the snowbound expanse were corpses of smaller crows that had come at him from everywhere, obscuring his vision in a haze of black feathers as their leader prepared for ambush.

He started at the pale blue crystal that was stained with the crow's blood. It seemed to have a masked the tengu's demonic energy, making him unable to sense, or even smell it- not that it gave the tengu any sort of advantage in battling him.

Sesshomaru let his bloodstained claws fall to his side, dispassionately surveying the carnage.

 _Waste of time,_ he glared accusingly at the corpse and strode towards the mountain stream he had spotted on his way.

Ever since Naraku had been defeated- the hanyou's flesh crumbling away at his sword strike- and his thirst for revenge satiated, Sesshomaru had been traveling across the country, picking up where he had left off – namely, finding a worthy opponent he could have a grand time crossing swords with. And subsequently introducing to death, if they weren't suitably deferential.

However, after Naraku, none of the demons he had encountered were worthy of his claws, much less of _Bakusaiga_ that rested tranquilly in its scabbard beside _Tenseiga._

Sesshomaru dipped his hands in the cold waters of the stream, watching the crystalline rivulets turn a murky red.

Three years had passed since Naraku ceased to exist, and the world had retained its languid, slow moving peace, broken only occasionally by petty human and youkai skirmishes. The tedium of his days weighed heavily upon him, and he was someone who loathed being weighed down. Beneath his cold façade, the demon lord longed for chaos so deeply that it fell just short of affliction.

He straightened up, gazing towards the east. Nestled between the green of the forest and the gold of the rice fields ready for harvest was a quiet little village, deceptively ordinary in appearance, as if nothing of interest had ever transpired there. With a sharp leap, Sesshomaru took to the skies, the gelid fingers of the mountain air caressing his silver locks. Today he would be visiting his brother's village.

He had a kimono to deliver.

* * *

 _(The present)_

 _Oh no. Oh no. Oh no._

Sachiko would have screamed if she could, but unfortunately, her vocal cords, or for that matter, none of the other muscles, seemed to want to obey her, so she had to settle for standing rooted on the ground looking like a particularly frightened statue.

 _Am I having a stroke? Locked-in-syndrome? Paralysis? Coma?_ Her mind raced, spewing out diagnosis after unlikely diagnosis she had scribbled half-asleep on her notepad during medicine lectures. Unfortunately, none of them could shed light on her current predicament. And they flew out the window altogether when her body began to lose contact with the ground and began to rise slowly in the air, hovering like a ghost over the gaping mouth of the dark, scary well.

Sachiko had a very, _very_ bad feeling as she stared into it.

 _Oh crap._

A drop of sweat descended slowly, slowly, from her temple, curving down the side of her cheek, pausing for a moment at her jaw.

And then she was falling headfirst into the well, hair streaming behind her, screams dying in her throat, tossed into the tempestuous currents of time.

* * *

 _(Time unknown, Place unknown)_

"Ah, that was a close call."

A man with long aurelian hair leisurely lounged in a bed fashioned with roots and shrubbery, flicking a coin in the air and catching it before it fell to the ground.

The coin was heads up. It read 'hundred yen'.

The man's lips curved into a smile.

"I've been waiting, Sachiko."

* * *

 **Check out the lovely, fabulous, beautiful, amazing, breathtaking anime series 'MONONOKE' (NOT to be confused with studio Ghilbi's ' _Princess_ Mononoke', which is a movie)**

 **Review if you think I should continue.**

 **Thank ya and love ya!**

 *** _Exits stage*_**


	2. Of Forests and Resurrection

_**Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing her characters for my own nefarious purposes. Kodama belongs to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghilbi. Again, nefarious purposes.**_

 _ **...Blessed...**_

* * *

 _ **Of Forests and Resurrection**_

 _"Sometimes the most scenic roads in life are the detours you didn't mean to take."_

 _ **― Angela N. Blount, Once Upon an Ever After**_

...

Sachiko woke up in a meadow under a darkening, unfamiliar sky, surrounded on all sides by lush foliage. _What the-_ She shakily pulled herself up, panicked eyes scanning through the fringe of trees, half-expecting something evil to pop out any moment. _When did I… fall asleep?_

Her head felt like it was filled with steel wool, rubbing annoyingly against the insides of her skull, making her sway unsteadily on her feet. Through the light haze that occupied her uncooperative mind, Sachiko nervously wondered if she were drugged. She sank down to the roots of a nearby tree and tried to recall.

The last she remembered, she was at the shrine- there was a well, and...

… _the sensation of free fall, limbs flailing, heart dropping to her stomach…_

"I…fell down the well?"

Dumbfounded, she pondered upon this fact while around her roosting birds chirped to one another as they began to retire for the night.

But how was she in a forest, when she should be at the muggy bottom of the well with at least a sprained ankle?

 _Maybe I died…_ she postulated, _I broke my neck, and died,_ _and this is… heaven?_ If so, the dark forest made for a rather disappointing afterlife. Where were the angels anyway, she found herself dreamily wondering- the guy angels with chiseled cheekbones and abs of steel?

"Pull yourself together," she groaned, shaking off pipe-dreams involving warm, feathery embraces. "I am _not_ dead!"

" _That's the spirit!"_

Sachiko gasped and turned around on her heels. Who said that? Great. Now she was hearing voices. In the periphery of her vision, something moved.

On the high branches of a tree were small alien-like creatures looking down on her, although 'look' may not have been the correct term since said creatures had no eyes, but asymmetric black holes on their heads. There was a moment where Sachiko, curious despite herself, stared at them before their heads started…rattling.

Which prompted similar creatures to pop up from adjacent trees and join in with their own rattles. Soon the whole forest seemed to be filled with the sound, with Sachiko standing flabbergasted in the middle of it.

 _This is shaping up to be a very strange day…_ She soothed the headache that was slowly but surely pooling behind her temples. Placing a finger to her lips, she breathed in deeply, and ' _shhh'_ d loudly.

No-one could have been more surprised than she was when the whole forest was struck dumb in an instant, like a curtain had dropped on the performance. The creatures gaped at her with their unreadable, mask-like faces, as if awaiting further instructions.

 _Ookayyy…_

She gingerly took a step backwards, then another, keeping her eyes glued on the creatures, then turned around and hightailed into the forest.

* * *

Sesshomaru floated over the sleepy village under the dusky pink and purple hues of the heavens, gliding downward gently when he reached the small hut at the foot of the Shrine.

"It appears we are here my lord!" Jaken announced superiorly from his mokomoko. A stab of irritation made him briefly close his eyes. Of course he knew he was at his destination- he had stopped there himself. Why did the imp see it fit to point out the most inane and obvious of things?

"The hut is empty Sesshomaru-sama! Where could Rin and the hag be at this hour? Oh the nerve of that girl to make lord Sesshomaru wait at this disgraceful shack is-!" Sesshomaru's boot abruptly connected with Jaken's head, sending the imp sprawling on the ground. He examined his nails in a show of boredom as he dug his heel into the back of the imp's skull, forcing his jaws tightly shut. The retainer flailed around fruitlessly under his master's foot, unable to voice the heartfelt prose of apology he had authored in the space of a nanosecond.

"-we sure did collect a lot of herbs today Kaede-sama!" a bright, girly voice said from afar, "And it was nice of Rikichi-san to give us all these radishes-ne?" Kaede said something in agreement. Rin prattled on about the qualities of the herbs they had collected, the old priestess throwing in an occasional comment.

Behind him, Ah-Un yawned and Jaken had resigned to his fate of eating dirt. Sesshomaru could not make sense of his strange trepidation as the child who was once his charge approached, with her cheerful voice and her footfalls light as that of a doe- changing, growing, _ageing_ , becoming a stranger with each passing moment.

 _She would be home soon._ Little Rin, whose bare, grimy feet had followed him faithfully through the wilderness.

Suddenly something shifted in the air. Jaken squealed in alarm as the pressure on the back of his head was suddenly released.

"My lord where are you going?!" he screeched as Sesshomaru took to the skies.

Out of the blue he had sensed a strange aura -so subtle that it almost seemed to blend into the surroundings, yet powerful enough to capture his interest.

Was it a threat? Where was Inuyasha? Wasn't he supposed to be protecting his village?

Ah yes, he was still ambling around the rice fields like a love-struck moron behind that strange miko of his- one that had the gall to address him 'big brother'. His mouth twisted in displeasure.

"Fools", Sesshomaru muttered, It seemed he had to do everything by himself.

* * *

 _This isn't happening…_

Sachiko felt lightheaded; everything around her seemed to have taken on a strange sense of being surreal, as if they had lost the qualities pertaining to that of the third dimension and had regressed into the second.

Although that may have had something to do with her rolling all the way down the steep slope of the hill.

Which also, incidentally, had saved her from a gruesome demise.

It all seemed like a dream- the inky blue sky above-head, the dirt and the grass she was lying on, the jade forest around her, even the centipede the size of three buses that was surely gaining on her…

 _But…_

 _But if it isn't a dream…_ she breathlessly pondered the biologically impossible yet disturbing scenario wherein the centipede gulped her down whole like an overgrown chicken, and understandably, shuddered. Mustering fortitude from her undeniable will to remain in one piece, Sachiko dragged her body towards thick undergrowth nearby, swimming deep into it and crouching in the cover of tall ferns and grass, holding her breath.

Minutes passed by, drawn out and agonizing. She had begun to think the whole centipede incident was just a panic-induced hallucination when the earth rumbled under her feet, marking the entrance of the multilimbed creature as it burst through the cover of trees.

 _Any minute now_ , Sachiko shut her eyes tightly and waited for her life to flash behind her lids.

There was a brief shuffle and an ominous crack. She peered through the gap in the ferns, heart in her throat, at the centipede disappearing into the trees with a lifeless torso of a white rabbit hanging limply from its mouth. It was all too easy to imagine how that could have been her corpse, but for the space of a few moments.

Breathing heavily, she crawled through the undergrowth on all fours to rest her aching back against the trunk of a tree, staring blankly at the cover of green above. Her body wouldn't stop trembling. _That could have been me- it would have found me, and I would have died, and-_

With great effort, she brought her focus back to the present. She was alive now, and she could keep it that way if she kept a cool head. _One breath at a time,_ she told herself, and waited for her composure to reassert itself.

 _Now what?_ She thought over the sound of her racing heart, running a hand across her sweaty brow. Calling for help now was out of question, as that had led her right into the jaws of the centipede. And her cellphone was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had dropped it back in the shrine? Sachiko listlessly stared at the ground, marked with shallow grooves and splinters of wood left by the centipede in its wake, thanking the gods for the creature being satisfied with a smaller prey.

A pale moon rose in the sky, casting ominous shadows that skittered and swam across the forest floor. If her mind wasn't swamped with more urgent concerns, she probably would have relished the beauty of the untouched, viridian hues of the forest, cast in the soft luminescence of moonlight. Instead, the dense thicket only inspired in her feelings of skittishness and paranoia- the dark spaces seemed like something evil hid in them, watching her, waiting to strike. _What do I do_ …?She drew her knees to her chest and buried her face in her arms. She was born in a city, raised in a city…even though she has a superficial interest in them, she still had no idea how forests worked or what to do in case you found yourself stuck in one. Especially one infested with giant centipedes.

A squeak made her look up. It was those creatures again, the ones with holes for eyes. One of them floated down from the branches to rest on her knee.

The creature looked even more bizarre close up. It was small, as tall as her palm, glowing softly in a mossy, phosphorescent pale green. It's bulbous head was disproportionately bigger than its body, with toeless feet and fingerless hands. Three gaping holes marked its eyes and mouth on its smooth, vacuous face. In the back of her mind, Sachiko quietly wondered why she wasn't terrified of these strange humanoid creatures. She even found them cute, though they weren't exactly pretty to look at, atleast not in the conventional way.

She reached out and gently touched the creature, feeling the curious sensation of touching something that was somewhere between light and matter. It twisted its distorted head at an impossible angle, and then twisted it back to its previous position.

"Do you by any chance know where the humans are?" She asked the light-creature.

And to her intense surprise, it made a squeaking/sucking noise and bobbed its head.

A couple of minutes later, Sachiko found herself trying to navigate stealthily through the brambles while hidden in shadow, crouching to a halt at every other unidentifiable sound that cut through the static background noises of the forest. She was feeling increasingly paranoid, the eerie feeling of being watched made her surreptitiously turn back to look over her shoulder, only to find darkness behind her.

Breathing sharply to dispel the leaded coils of anxiety tightening in her chest, she turned her gaze towards the trees. The glowing creatures where popping up from the foliage, forming a broken, faintly lighted trail connecting the trees and showing her the way. She didn't know why or _if_ they were helping her but decided that something was better than nothing. Nothing being the act of sitting around in the forest waiting for some monster to come find her.

Strange cries of nocturnal predators made themselves heard sporadically, making her heart feel like it was being wrung like laundry inside her chest. Thankfully she was spared the honor of meeting the makers of said cries. The light-creatures were leading her well through what seemed a safe path, even if she wasn't privy to the destination.

A particularly vicious part of her mind reminded her breezily that she would not have been in this situation if she had gone to college today like a good girl. _If I make it out of this,_ she prayed in earnest, _I will never miss a day of class again. Ever._ She wasn't exactly someone who conversed to God on a daily basis, but hey, nothing fosters faith like the possibility of imminent death.

Something sparkled in the periphery of her vision.

 _Fireflies!_ Hundreds of insects sparked and whizzed against the darkness that cloaked the forest, forming a breathtaking view. She had never seen so many fireflies at once. Spirits lifting, she allowed herself a small smile.

 _It's a good omen,_ she told herself, gagging her inner cynic, _God has heard you. You'll be fine._

Despite herself, Sachiko took a moment to admire the view, before she stepped out to follow the light-creatures again.

The undergrowth was beginning to thin out and the trees were being spaced farther and farther apart. Shortly after, she came upon a narrow, well worn earthen trail winding through the trees. Sachiko's heart fluttered briefly in anticipation.

Hopefully the trail led to a nice, warm hamlet of some kind where she could find some altruistic citizens who'd helpfully direct her towards the nearest highway. Or something.

 _No, not yet. Don't get your hopes up,_ she told herself. This day definitely wasn't going to make her list of 'top ten best days of my life', or even the more modest, less coveted 'top ten _decent_ days of my life' list. To be completely honest, part of her still kept expecting to wake up anytime, possibly in an air-conditioned lecture hall.

At any rate, the best way to proceed was with prudence. _Yes, even when in a dream._ Mental celebrations were well and good, but only after some concrete evidence of success. Thoughtlessly running into the trail and blowing her cover like an idiot, especially with all the monsters lurking around may have fatal consequences.

 _Like dying,_ he mind supplied helpfully.

She patiently proceeded through the wilderness, parallel to the trail. At a distance on the trail- was that... _a person_?

Overcome with happiness, Sachiko perilously came close to calling out and announcing her location.

 _Wait_! She told herself severely, clapping a hand over her traitorous mouth. _Why would a man be standing all alone in the middle of nowhere in the dark?_ It was a bit too suspicious.

Although half hidden in shadows, now that she looked at it, the silhouette seemed... _odd._ The neck seemed a bit too long, the head was small and flat and the limbs where positioned strangely. In the moonlight, the tips of its long fangs gleamed dangerously.

Her breath caught in her throat. Had it seen her? The specter was just standing there, ten feet ahead, seeming to not have noticed her. Quietly, the sound of her heart ringing dizzyingly in her ears, she backed deeper into the trees, attempting to put more distance between them. The tiny, alien creatures lit another trail, cutting deeper into the forest. Perhaps she could make a wide circle around it and return to the path once she got far enough…

A twig snapped under her foot.

The hairs on the nape of her neck suddenly stood on end. Even without turning back, Sachiko knew it was right behind her.

" _Losssst_ , human?" a voice, low and menacing, hissed in her ear, turning the blood in her vessels to ice. With a shriek of panic, Sachiko attempted take off, only to have strong hands grab her shoulders, pushing her into the trunk of a tree. A long, forked tongue flicked against her ear, sending shivers down her spine. Her skin chafed against the rough bark as the ghoul pushed her head against it, exposing her neck.

In a movement faster than she thought possible, her arm twisted around to bring a can of pepper spray at the surprised creature's face. In the space of a heartbeat Sachiko turned on her heels and took off, desperately bolting towards the open trail, branches tugging viciously at her hair and clothes.

She had barely broken through the fringe of trees when she felt cold, sharp pain deep where her neck met her shoulder, piercing skin and muscle and hitting bone. Her a steps faltered and she skidded straight into the trunk of a dead tree, the impact causing her body to collapse in a heap beneath it.

 _No…_

Blood thundered in her ears, spraying out in rhythmic pulses of crimson through the wound in her neck, and she realized, in a daze of horrified disbelief, that an artery was torn. The fiery poison spread through her veins, paralyzing her muscles, stabbing her with a thousand cold needles of pain. Through clouded eyes, Sachiko saw the grotesque clawed feet of the monster approaching her. It said something that was lost in the fog filling her brain. Her head was swimming. She couldn't move. And it hurt, _oh so much._

" _You poor thing",_ someone spoke in her head, kind and clear, " _It's alright- let go, everything will be fine._ "

Through the fog, a man with golden hair smiled gently and reached out to her.

A haze of white, and then the world was darkness.

* * *

Sesshomaru watched the dying girl with a vague sense of disappointment.

"Hey mutt! I'm talking to you!" the snake demon bellowed. "You'd better leave or I'll-! "

Perhaps the scent of blood had got to his brain and made him forget his place. A smile graced the daiyoukai's lips. It didn't matter anyway. His claws glowed impudent reptile didn't have a chance to even register his terror before the its head was cleanly sliced off its neck, a spray of blood spreading crimson on the earth.

Sesshomaru was expecting many things as he followed the strange aura through the woods, but not a human girl that looked like something the cat dragged in, crouching fearfully amidst the ferns. Confounded, he even double- checked, only to confirm that the mystifying aura of purity, somehow inoffensive to him-a demon- was that of a human frightened out of her wits.

He was getting bored of watching her sit around doing nothing when she suddenly stood up and begin to move towards direction of his brother's village. The girl seemed to have impeccable sense of direction and copious amounts of luck- she avoided every youkai that lurked nearby whilst taking the shortest path possible to the village. Or perhaps she had something more to her- some unseen power that was missed even with scrutiny as intense as his…

When the snake demon ambushed her he had watched expectantly, thinking she would finally show her true colors, but all she had done was throw something at the youkai that smelled faintly of pepper and flee. Of course that didn't faze the demon in the slightest. It had waited for her to reach open ground where her chances of escape were marginally higher, allowing her a moment of false hope before sinking its fangs into her.

And now she lay dying under a dead tree. How tragic.

"Lord _Sessho_ -umaru! Where _aaa-re_ youuuu...?!" Jaken's grating voice echoed through the forest, "Oh there you are my lord!" The kappa scampered towards him on squat legs, taking stock of the girl in front of him. "Ah! She reeks of poison. And look at all this blood-this one's a goner!" He opined dispassionately, not unlike he was commenting on the weather. "M-my lord, are you…?" Jaken looked pointedly at _Tenseiga._

Sesshomaru wasn't feeling terribly inclined towards resurrecting dead strangers in the woods.

However, certain responsibilities came with being the wielder of the Sword of the Heavens, and thus, with the air of someone who is forced to do something moderately unpleasant, he drew his father's sword, looking for the emissaries of the underworld. A frown creased his forehead when the sword kept sleeping, not responding to the dying woman in front of him. That was the first time _Tenseiga_ had ever done that.

The girl's dying heartbeats were in his ear, feeble and soft, begging him to save her. Her heart pulsed once, twice, and then shuddered to a stop.

Sesshomaru sheathed his sword and turned back.

"Milord?" Jaken quipped.

"It seems _Tenseiga_ is unwilling to revive her", he said as he walked away. _You could have intervened,_ a quiet voice said in his head. _I have no obligations towards saving mortals_ , he answered back.

And then there was a pulse of life, faint as the beat of a butterfly's wings.

Sesshomaru gazed at the woman, surprise briefly coloring his features, just as a burst of light suddenly emerged from her, warm and bright like sunlight, almost blinding in its intensity. He shielded his eyes with the sleeves of his haori, listening, with contained interest, to the sound of the girl's heart picking up. Her wounds were healing rapidly, vessels and nerves and skin sewing themselves seamlessly back, as if they had never been breached. Fresh blood flowed through her vessels, nourishing starved tissue, her heart pumping in slow, steady beats. And then the light faded- the forest returned to its moonlit blackness.

Her eyes popped open and she bolted up with a greedy, wheezing gasp.

"Aiee _eeeee_!" Jaken scampered away from her as fast as his little legs could carry him, hiding behind his master.

"Wha _-?"_ She mumbled in the groggy tones of someone stirring from a restless sleep. Realization dawned on her forest-green eyes and she gasped, shuffling away from the pool of blood beneath her, wrapping her arms around herself and trembling in fear.

Behind her, the once dead tree was now wreathed in tender green leaves, life bursting from each cell. Something moved beside his leg. His acid whip sliced through the snake demon's suddenly sentient head.

"What are you?" The demon lord demanded. "Answer me, girl." She didn't seem to have heard him.

"A _god_ …", she breathily muttered to herself, _How can I be a god?_

* * *

 _ **Author's rant: Why did I use the Kodama? I don't know, I wasn't planning to, but when I thought about this story, I had this mental image, a vision, if you will, *wipes away juice of rotten tomato from face*, of them. And it seemed like I wouldn't be able to deliver this story to its wholeness unless I used them? *tries to dodge rotten eggs and tomatoes but fails*. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my little story. Thank you for taking the time to read.**_

 _ **Review, because reviews tell me you want to see more of this.**_


	3. Of Gods and Golden Shackles

_**Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing her characters for my own nefarious purposes. Kodama belongs to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghilbi. Again, nefarious purposes.**_

 _ **Thank you for the lovely people who reviewed- it is because of you that this chapter saw the light this early!**_

 _ **...Blessed...**_

* * *

 _ **Of Gods and Golden Shackles**_

 _ **...**_

 _"We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."_  
 _ **— C.S. Lewis**_

 **...**

Jaken looked dubiously behind him, watching the girl clumsily make her way through the forest with narrowed eyes.

"Milord", he whispered conspiratorially to the daiyoukai he followed. "Milord!" he tried again when there was no response, "it seems the girl has taken to following us! "

"Hn", was the dispassionate answer. Jaken sighed and prayed to all his ancestors, dead and alive, that the lord did not take in another strange human for him to babysit.

"…, but don't touch me okay? My clothes are all bloody." Sesshomaru's ears perked up. "Thanks for trying to help, you guys were great, until…you know… " It seemed the girl was in habit of talking to herself. What a strange one she was, from the way she was dressed to how she eluded death.

Sachiko, for her part, was quite sure now that she was not dreaming. The kodama, that's what the god called those light-creatures, bustled around her as she followed a safe distance behind the two...non-humans. She had taken to blabbering, more to distract herself from the trauma of all that had happened than to have a one-sided conversation with the forest-spirits. Lest she did something embarrassing like burst into horrified tears or divest herself of clothing and run around the forest singing 'kumbaya'.

"It's okay", she kept whispering to the kodama near her, "I'm fine…or at least I will be…"

 _(flashback)_

 _Sachiko opened her eyes and found herself in another forest, this one warm and bright and open, filled with birdsong. I'm really sick of forests, she thought._

" _So this time, I really did die", she said pensively. Somewhere nearby, a brook babbled through the woods._

" _I'm afraid so, Sachiko", said a voice from beside her._

" _Ack!" Sachiko shuffled away from the young man sitting next to her. She could swear he wasn't there a moment ago. He gazed at her kindly._

" _Don't be afraid", he said, "This is a place of tranquility, a place where your soul can rest."_

" _Oh", she said, not knowing what else to say, "I'm Sachiko, but I guess you already knew that." He smells of marigolds, her mind observed. She wondered how she could smell when her nose was back in the world of living attached to, or at least somewhere near her mangled body._ Must be a 'soul thing' _, she closed the case._

" _Pardon me", the man said. He had beautiful emerald eyes. "My name is Haruo. I am a god- God of forests, if you will."_

" _A god?" she echoed._ That's right, since I'm in heaven…

" _Oh but this is not the afterworld", he laughed. "I must say, you seem very calm for someone who just died", he looked ahead, "That too at the prime of their life."_

Mind reading, _Sachiko thought. A breeze bent the heads of the long, soft grass. "I don't know why I am so calm", she said, "I am usually not- maybe it's because I haven't really accepted that I'm dead yet._

" _Ah, I see", Haruo said, his voice poignant, "You are still very young, after all…"_

 _Leaves rustled in the sweet, springtime wind. The sky was bright and blue and full of hope. A couple of fireflies flickered lazily in the thick shade._

" _If it's not the afterworld, then… what is this place?"_

 _Haruo smiled and rose to his feet, his gorgeous dark green kimono brushing against the long grass. Sachiko stood up with him._

 _And suddenly the forest was gone, and she was in the middle of a busy road, staring right at the headlights of a truck. It passed right through her in a blare of honking horns, leaving her standing, mouth agape, on the asphalt._

" _Sorry about that", Haruo called from the sidewalk. "My mistake."_

 _She breathed out the air that seemed to have been stuck in her chest and walked over to him, trying not to flinch as a motorcycle and a car passed through her. Haruo began walking through the throng of people. Sachiko followed._

" _This is close to where I live", she said in amazement. "…Lived_ ", _she amended, a wistful note in her voice. People passed through them, busy with their quotidian activities. "Erm, where are we going, Haruo-san?"_

 _Haruo said nothing. He stopped and gestured to the throng of people in front of them. Sachiko's gaze fell on the serious, bespectacled girl walking through the crowd with a pinched expression, phone glued to her ear._

" _Rhi!" she exclaimed. The girl walked past without noticing her. Sachiko felt her heart drop._

" _This is what it's like being a god. Unperceived", Haruo was saying. Sachiko turned tail and took off after her._

" _Rhiannon Tanaka, don't you dare walk away from me!" Sachiko didn't know what came over her- Only there were tears in her eyes and that something was telling her it was imperative she caught up with her. Sachiko reached out and caught hold of the girl's wrist. Rhiannon stopped in her tracks. The next moment, a car swerved right into the sidewalk, crashing into the wall barely a feet from where she stood._

" _S-Sachiko?" Rhiannon murmured after a moment of stupefaction, gaping at her wrist and then right at her, yet through her. Sachiko felt a hand on her shoulder._

" _Very good, Sachiko", Haruo said." We are done here"_

 _And then they were back in the forest, surrounded by birdsong._

" _Rhi", Sachiko breathed wistfully, discreetly brushing the moisture in the corner of her eyes away. "Will they be alright? Did that really happen?"_

" _Yes, it did", Haruo said thoughtfully, reaching to a branch. A small creature, with holes for eyes and mouth clambered onto his hand. "Rhiannon is fine. And Kouji…well, he needed a lesson on the hazards of drunk driving. Thanks to his mother who twisted his ear when he was twelve, he remembered to put his seat-belt on." He turned to her with a smile. "Look, Sachiko, this is a kodama", the creature in his hand squeaked, "They are forest spirits- very shy creatures. You'll be seeing a lot of them on your travels, so I thought it would be good if you knew their real name. Rather than calling them 'light creatures' and such."_

" _Yeah, I remember them, when I was in the forest they- wait a minute, what travels? " She quipped, "I don't think I can go travelling anymore…" She said wistfully. I should have, she thought, when I had the chance._

" _No, Sachiko", the god smiled fondly, "You're not dead."_

" _What? But you said-"_

" _Sachiko", Haruo said patiently, "A god can't be killed by a wound to the body."_

" _A…god?" Sachiko piped, confused._

" _You have some of my power, Sachiko. That's why you're in this place, that's why you can see the kodama." Something glowing in a golden light appeared on his palm. Sachiko gazed at it with amazement - it was the coin she had dropped in the well. "Try and remember- this is not the first time we meet."_

 _And then she remembered- falling down the well, being pulled through the forest on invisible strings, a god who had touched her forehead, sending a strange wave of warmth through her body…_

" _You!" Sachiko said in disbelief as fog filled her vision, "You're the one who brought me to that place! "_

" _Yes, Sachiko", he said, obscured by fog, though she could still see his smile._ _"And now it's time you go back. Don't worry, we'll meet each other soon. You can ask your questions then, and by that time, I suspect you'll have more." There was laughter in his voice. Another wave of fog filled the world in white._

 _"After all, you are only a novice god…"_

 _And in the land of the living, Sachiko opened her eyes._

 _(flashback end)_

All that happened in the space of perhaps, a minute in the real world. That is, this strange world she was dragged into.

"I just want to get back and sleep this whole thing off", she told the Kodama. By then she had surmised that they functioned as a unit, and addressing one was like addressing them in entirety. "And then eat something, and then sleep again."

"Quiet you insufferable human! Your ceaseless chatter makes me want to scream!" The kappa-like creature turned and hollered at her. " _Crazy woman talking to herself_ ", he muttered under his breath.

 _I should be the one screaming,_ Sachiko thought lethargically. She was in danger of falling asleep on her feet, and if that were to happen, she had a sneaking suspicion that the people walking in front of her would merrily leave her be on the forest floor.

 _Why am I following them again?_

 _Ah that's right, to get to a human settlement._

 _But they're obviously not human._

Well, it wasn't as if her chances were any better in the forest on her own. And they looked at her like something off the side of the road, so it was probably safe to assume they wouldn't find her particularly appetizing. She sighed heavily.

 _I hope._

The man in white, Sesshomaru, turned to look at her- he was either extremely irritated or extremely bored, she couldn't really tell. Her mind recalled the surgical precision with which the snake-monster was cut down- she could safely bet that was not the doing of the kappa.

 _Shouldn't I be bothered that he's capable of murder?_

 _Ugh, screw it, I'm too tired for all that._

All her stress and lethargy however, did not refrain her from noticing that he had the most beautiful tresses she had ever seen in her entire life- thick and straight and silver. Dyed, perhaps? She absently wondered what conditioner he used. And of course the clothes- she felt that his ensemble looked vaguely Chinese. And what was with the fur thingie? And the swords and the armour? A _Chinese_ samurai? She played with that idea for a moment before a headache made her decide that it took too much of effort she wasn't willing to spare.

The imp, Jaken, turned again to glare at her venomously. _What's his problem?_ Sachiko huffed.

Her head itched, bringing her back to reality. She scratched it viciously. Sachiko felt like an unwashed hobo with her stiff, blood soaked clothes, grimy skin and itchy, twig-ridden hair.

 _A bath. I'd kill someone for a warm bath. And a nice bed._

Whilst Sachiko was pondering a future in assassination for meager pay, Sesshomaru stopped at the edge of the village, staring at the source of the particularly vile smell that was saturating his nostrils.

"Half-breed", he greeted.

"Why hello to you too Sesshomaru", said the boy with snow-white hair, crossing his arms and scowling. "Glad to see the stick up yer ass is still firmly in place."

"That's _lord_ Sesshomaru to you, you insolent hanyou!" Jaken screeched from behind his master. " And I tell you, he has _nothing_ stuck up his- _huh_?" Sesshomaru took the weird staff from the imp before he could finish the sentence and proceeded to whack him hard on the side of his head in a movement faster than that the human eye could decipher.

Sachiko curiously observed the strange rendezvous in front of her.

 _Are those…dog ears on his head? Or cat ears? I can't really tell from this distance. God that's weird._

"Serves ya right, you stupid toad", The dog-eared boy snickered sadistically, poking a groaning Jaken with his foot.

"Inuyasha!" a female voice chided. "Leave him alone! " A pretty girl wearing a miko dress appeared beside him. "We came as soon as we sensed your presence, Sesshomaru-sama", she said in a pleasanter tone.

"Keh", the dog-boy scoffed, "I'm sure as hell he ain't here to visit!" He sniffed the air, staring right at Sachiko. "What 'ave you brought Sesshomaru? Don't tell me you've adopted _another_ one!", he sniffed the air again. "That one looks like she got mauled by a bear."

The girl in the garb of a priestess smacked him with her bow. "Don't be so damn rude!"

 _Adopted?_ Sachiko was suddenly extremely aware of her state of disarray. Feeling conscious of her appearance, she picked at a twig in her hair which only seemed to weave itself further into her tangled tresses the more she pulled.

"Hi", the priestess smiled prettily and stepped towards her, "My name is Kagome. And… " A horrified expression bloomed on her face, " _Oh my god_ , is that blood?"

"It's all mine!" Sachiko blurted. "I mean...I didn't…um…kill anyone…" She finished lamely.

There was a stunned silence after that proclamation that made her cheeks burn in embarrassment. _Way to create a good first impression, Sachiko. Why don't you say something else stupid and shove your foot deeper into your mouth?_

Inuyasha snickered, breaking the tenuous quiet. Kagome hit him with her bow again.

* * *

Things definitely looked better after a bath, even though it was dark, even though the river was freezing cold. Kagome assured her no-one would be around at this time, somewhat calming her qualms about bathing in such an open place. She had tried her best to wash off the dust and grime and blood from her body with the lump of soap provided, regrettably of poor quality. Her shirt wasn't as lucky.

 _I think I'll have to burn it,_ she sighed looking at the once pink fabric. The villagers had cast strange looks in her direction as she passed by, looking like a catastrophe. She scrubbed it sadly for the last time. _Aww, I liked this shirt._

 _Better the shirt than you,_ her inner voiceobserved prudently. She concurred wholeheartedly with it. Her teeth were chattering as she slipped into the blue _yukata_ she was given.

"Are you alright there, Sachiko-san?" Kagome asked from the riverbank where she had built a little bonfire.

"Yeah, I am", she said, hastily tying the uncooperative olive- green obi.

"I'm really sorry I couldn't get you any warm water- I've been meaning to get a bath made, but…", she sighed, "and there aren't any hot springs nearby…"

"Oh, don't worry about it", Sachiko said, warming her hands over the fire, "I'm beyond grateful to you for helping me out, Kagome."

"Tell me something", she asked, "are you from Tokyo?"

"Born and bred."

"Did you by any chance fall down...a well?"

"Yes! " Sachiko exclaimed. "A well in the Higurashi shrine". Kagome's hand stopped stoking the fire for a moment. She appeared to be miles away, deep in thought.

"I see", she finally said, her tone plaintive.

"How did you...um, know that?"

"It's kind of a long story", she smiled prettily, "And I'll be happy to tell you all about what you want to know, but after I get you something to eat."

Shortly after that, Sachiko found herself in a small hut that was currently holding more people than it was meant to. The scrutiny made her nervously twiddle her thumbs.

"So ye child, are from the world beyond the well", said a matronly old woman donning a miko-garb and a black eye-patch. A baby started crying somewhere in the crowd.

"It's surprising that the well has opened up again", the man in purple robes, Miroku, said, bouncing the crying baby in his arms. "I thought that after Kagome-sama returned, there would be no reason for the well to act as a portal anymore." Sachiko thought Inuyasha, who was leaning against the door frame, tensed a little.

"Perhaps your arrival here means something, Sachiko-san", the woman who had introduced herself as Sango suggested.

 _How can she have such a great figure with three kids?! It is almost illegal!_ She found herself thinking with a smidgen of jealousy. Sango blinked at her in confusion. _Oh great, it's my facial expressions again. Look calm, look calm!_

"What do you mean?" She asked, trying to compose herself.

"Well", Kagome began, "the bone eater's well only sends in someone if there's a reason for them being here." Sachiko turned this over in her mind. What could that mean? What reason could she have to be taken almost five hundred years back in the past?

 _Could it be because I put that stupid coin in the well? Is that why all this strange crap is happening to me?_

"Kagome should know, she came from your world as well", chirped the red haired boy sporting a fluffy tail, aptly named Shippou.

"I kinda figured", Sachiko muttered to herself. Although what made her stay in this era with poor quality soap and no indoor plumbing was beyond her. She'd have given an arm and a leg to get back this instant. _No, scratch that- I just have to jump in that damn well. I'll keep my arm and leg for now, thanks._

"Mommy I'm sleepy!" The two identical little girls on either side of Sango said in unison.

"Keh!" Inuyasha said, "Why'd you have bring the kids?"

"I'm sorry", Sango said apologetically to the whole room. "I couldn't really leave them alone at this hour."

"And we all wanted to see who the visitor from the other world was", said Shippou.

 _ **...**_

 _Visitor from the other world , huh?_ Sachiko thought, gazing at the dying embers of the fire.

It was pretty much obvious that she was somewhere in the past once she was out of the forest- thanks to the traditional getup and the lack of electricity. Being in the past was such a bizarre idea that she hadn't even considered it before. That, and she was pretty much running for her life. Her best bet was that she was trapped in a parallel dimension. Which wasn't really far from the truth, all things considered.

"What's the matter, Sachiko-san? You seem troubled", Kaede said, handing her a bedroll. Outside, crickets chirped lustily in the summer night.

"Oh, it's nothing", she smiled. "I was just…thinking. Thank you for putting up with me."

The hut was basically a single wooden room with meager household necessities lined up against the walls. A flap made of reeds hung in place of a door, the roof was thatched and held up by wooden rafters. At the center of the hut was a stove over which Kaede had prepared a simple vegetable stew for dinner. It seemed much emptier now that everyone had left.

"It's no trouble, child", said Kaede, stoking the fire. The golden glow of the flames filled the small hut with a pleasant warmth. "I'm only happy to be of assistance. There is but one thing I would like to ask you"

"Yeah? "

"Kagome told me that when they found you, you were covered in blood. Yet you seem perfectly fine. How is that possible?" Sachiko thought of all the cuts and bruises and other, more fatal injuries she had sustained since falling down the well and flinched. The words of the forest god replayed in her head.

" _after all, you are only a novice god…"_

Something told her it would be unwise to disclose things that she wasn't sure of herself.

"I…um, the wounds weren't too deep…", she said, carefully lowering her eyes. Kaede chuckled.

"You're a very bad liar, Sachiko-san", the old priestess said. Sachiko's face heated up. _Damn my uncooperative facial expressions!_

"However", Kaede said, "you don't have to tell me if you do not wish to."

"It's not that", Sachiko said guiltily. After all, the kind old woman had taken it upon herself to provide her shelter for the night. "I am really not sure of what happened myself."

"I see", the old priestess said, laying down her futon. "Then I will trouble you no further about it." The little girl, Rin was sleeping peacefully on the other side of the fire, her breaths slow and even. It seemed she had fallen asleep as soon as her body hit the futon. She had kept on asking questions- _Where are you from, Sachiko-sama? What's it like in Tokyo Sachiko-sama? Did Sesshomaru-sama bring you here, Sachiko-sama? What's your favorite food, Sachiko-sama?_ And then she had dressed up in a fine kimono, one, she had informed her gaily, that was gifted to her by Sesshomaru- sama, and asked her how she looked. Sachiko wondered why Sesshomaru, _a demon,_ as she was informed, would bring presents to a little girl. To her he seemed like a cool and aloof person who wouldn't spare even a moment's thought to others. _But he did lead me to this village, or was that just by accident?_ Sachiko unfurled the futon and lied down, exhaustion heavily weighing upon her body.

 _It's none of my business, so I'd better get to sleep._

"Pardon me for asking- it's just that your aura is…strange." Kaede spoke again.

"My what?" she blurted. It felt vaguely like she was being accused of having bad breath or that her feet smelled funky.

"Ah, it is nothing my child, disregard this old woman's rambling", Kaede said hastily, "I hope you find your accommodations comfortable enough. This was the best I could do, I'm afraid. Ours has always been a poor village- we are still recovering from what happened three years ago."

"Oh", she said, her eyelids feeling heavy, "What happened?"

"It was a fearsome demon named Naraku- he poisoned the land with miasma. Nothing would grow here for a very long time. It took a whole year to purify the earth", she said, "Even this year the harvest is poor". The old woman sighed. "At this rate, the villagers are just going to starve again."

"That's awful", she drawled, stifling a yawn. She knew something of importance was being said, but it was difficult for her to take in anything in her soporific state. She tried her best to listen for the sake of courtesy. The old priestess sighed.

"I wish there was some way our crops would prosper", Kaede said wistfully as Sachiko's eyelids fluttered to a close.

 _Ching!_

Her eyes popped open. Warily, she peeked under the covers to see shackles on her wrists- shackles made of faint golden light. She blinked and they were gone, but their faint weight on her wrists told her otherwise.

 _That's probably my imagination!_ She tried telling herself brightly, only to cringe when they clinked softly as she moved her arms.

 _Oh God please let that be my imagination._

"Good night, Sachiko-san, you seem to be nodding off as I speak", the old woman said good-naturally. "I shall wake you early in the morning, and then we can go down to the well for you to return."

"Y-yes! Good night, Kaede-san!" She hurriedly sunk into her futon and shut her eyes, trying to pretend she couldn't hear the chains as they rattled with her movements.

* * *

 _ **Review, because reviews tell me you want to see more of this...**_


	4. Of Rice Fields and Farewells

_**Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing her characters for my own nefarious purposes. Kodama belongs to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghilbi. Again, nefarious purposes.**_

 _ **Thanks for the lovely people who reviewed- A flying kiss to all of you. *mwah***_

 _ **...Blessed...**_

* * *

 _ **Of Rice Fields and Farewells**_

 _"To the people who look at the stars and wish, Rhys."_  
 _Rhys clinked his glass against mine. "To the stars who listen— and the dreams that are answered."_  
 ** _— Sarah J. Maas (A Court of Mist and Fury (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #2)_**

 _"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation."_  
 ** _— Oscar Wilde_**

 ** _..._**

 _Sachiko walked through the familiar streets, headphones in her ears, a shopping bag in her hands. The piece of sky bound by the tall, stately buildings was a dull grey. People walked past her, paying each other no mind. The road was abuzz with the unending drone of automobiles. Someone pushed past her - green skin, yellow eyes, a flash of sharp, deadly fangs._

 _A bolt of fear pierced her heart._

 _Sachiko turned on her heels, heart hammering, her eyes searching the crowd._

 _What was that?_

 _She turned and abruptly collided with someone._

 _"I'm really sor-!" Her eyes widened when the man walked right through her, as if she were nothing but air. The bag of groceries fell from her grip. She stared at her hands bound in shackles of golden light._

No, No!

What's happening?

 _The snake demon was walking towards her, fangs gleaming in a malicious grin. She turned tail and fled, weaving through the maze of buildings, panic seizing her whole as she felt more chains around herself. There were shackles at her ankles, around her waist, chains criss-crossing over her body...She was brought to her knees, the chains tightening around her, making her gasp, making it harder to breathe. She fruitlessly scratched at the one tightening around her neck, cutting painfully into the skin._

 _At a distance was a man smoking from a long carved pipe. He wore a beautiful deep green kimono, his long golden hair spilling over his shoulders even though bound at the end. He took a deep puff from the pipe and vanished into the darkness between the buildings in a haze of purple smoke._

 _"Wait! " she wheezed and took off after him, chains trailing in her wake, stepping in the alley and running towards him through the darkness and the rank smells. The darkness in the alley gave way to a burst of light and suddenly she was in the forest again._

 _Her pacing heart slowed down and she heaved a huge sigh of relief, resting her hands on her knees._

 _"I was dreaming, it was just a dream..." She murmured between desperate pants._

 _"Ah, Sachiko", a familiar voice said. "We meet again, and so soon!" She looked up, glaring._

 _"You", she said venomously._

 _"Yes? " He smiled handsomely, cocking his head to the side, fireflies flickering about his person- the picture of innocence._

 _"Don't you yes me, buddy! I need answers!" She gestured towards her shackled hands. "What is this?"_

 _"See, I told you you'll have more questions!" Haruo beamed. He took a puff from his pipe and made a show of examining her hands. "Ah", he said sagaciously, "Nothing to worry about- it seems someone has made a wish."_

 _"A...wish?" she said._

 _"Yes. Listening to people's wishes is an important part of being a God."_

 _"Oh- Hey! I never agreed to-!"_

 _"It's such a pretty evening in the forest", Haruo smiled disarmingly, "Come, take a walk with me, Sachiko."_

 _Well, it was a nice evening. Maybe she should take a walk with-_

 _"Stop putting ideas in my head", she crossed her arms, shackles and all. Haruo let out an awkward laugh._

 _"Sorry, sorry", the God said. He didn't sound particularly apologetic. "Nothing gets by you huh? But please, do come for a walk. It will help calm you down." Sachiko let out a deep breath._

 _"Fine", she relented. She was dreaming anyway. "But no mind control!"_

 _"Wouldn't dream of it."_

 _The forest was even more beautiful at dusk. The sky was a lovely mix of shades of pink and purple. Fireflies lighted the darkness like glowing green sparks. The scent of marigolds filled the air._

 _"You've already learned how to find me", Haruo was saying, "All you need to do is think of this forest when you dream."_

 _"But how is that possible? Why do my dreams connect to this place?"_

 _"Dreams stem from the universal consciousness. All dreams are connected, Sachiko. Anyone can access this forest through their dreams, if that's what their subconscious wants." He took a puff from the pipe, breathed in deeply and exhaled purple smoke._

 _"That's not tobacco, is it? "_

 _"Of course not. Would you like a drag?"_

 _"No, thank you."_

 _"Suit yourself", he shrugged. "Now, you wanted to know about the shackles, did you not?" Sachiko nodded._

 _"When a wish is made, it is imperative that a God attends to it. The shackles represent your obligation as a God to listen to the wishes people make."_

 _"So does that mean Gods have to fulfil all wishes they hear?"_

 _"No, on the contrary, a God has to listen to only heartfelt wishes."_

 _"Heartfelt wishes?"_

 _"Yes. There are many definitions for a heartfelt wish- in your case", he gestured towards her shackled hands, "it was a wish made thinking more of others than of themselves. The definition of it would be...any wish the soul makes, which lies in accordance with the objectives it wishes to accomplish on its stay at the physical realm."_

 _"Erm...", she piped, taken aback, "Could you...repeat that?" She was by no means stupid, but that sentence sounded a little vague and sketchy to her. It was as if she was missing a large chunk of information that was required to fully comprehend that statement. Haruo chuckled._

 _"I think it's better to forget all the confusing stuff, ne?" He said affectionately, "As far as you are concerned, any wish that forms shackles around you is a wish you must listen to."_

 _"Wait, what if a God does not hear a heartfelt wish?"_

 _"Gods are always listening, Sachiko", he said placidly, "Always, with no exceptions. Not one heartfelt wish goes unattended, no matter who makes it."_

 _"Oh", she said, suddenly feeling like a child. She thought of the millions of appellations she herself had made over her lifetime, most with no fruition. Why, she wondered. Did those wishes not align with whatever her soul's purpose was? She was sure at least some of them were what he called 'heartfelt'._

 _"That story is for another day", Haruo said cheerfully. Sachiko felt embarrassed for being so transparent, but it wasn't like she could help it. It seemed the God wasn't inclined to practice discretion in his telepathic abilities._

 _"Right now, all you need to know is that you should listen to wishes as they come. Never let them accumulate. You don't want to be weighed down by chains, do you?" He smiled when she gave him a flat look._

 _"I don't want any of this", she grumbled._

 _"Also, an unheeded wish is like a tethering rope", Haruo continued as if she hadn't spoken. "You cannot move farther than the length of the chain."_

 _Sachiko blanched. "So that means there's a chance that I can't go back to my time unless I do something about this wish?"_

 _"Look how fast you catch up!"Haruo cooed dotingly, blatantly ignoring her as she glared daggers at him. "I knew I chose well! But remember- though you are obliged to listen to every wish, it's up to you to decide whether to fulfill a wish or not. Remember that tale of the drop of honey!"_

 _Sachiko felt that familiar pull which marked her departure from that strange forest._

 _"There is one more thing I want to ask", she spoke hastily, knowing her time was almost up."Why me?"_

 _Haruo smiled,_ again _. It was really getting on her nerves how nonplussed he was. She wondered how it would feel like if she punched him in the mouth. I'd probably go to hell, she concluded. Haruo placed the ornate pipe to his lips._

 _"Why, you ask? " He blew out a plume of spoke that hung purple against the black of the sky and gazed as it ascended._

 _"Because it was decided long ago, long before you were even born."_

* * *

 _I was hoping for a less vague answer,_ Sachiko thought irately as she woke in Kaede's hut. The fire had died down to a few embers that glowed a glittering red, allowing the chill of the night to creep in through the flap that was in place of the door. She sneaked a peak at the two cohabitants of the hut, sleeping soundly. Slowly, she stood up.

The linked golden chains of her shackles extended out the door and into the village.

 _But it's like two o'clock in the morning…_ her mind protested feebly. It was cold even inside the hut.

 _Yeah, so I'll have to suck it up if I want to get back to my time, s_ he told it pointedly, slipping on her shoes.

Taking great care to be quiet, she stepped out the hut and began to walk in the direction the chains seemed to come from. It was chilly outside, not to mention scary, and she was still exhausted from her prior activities in the forest. Lack of sleep settled as an annoying buzz inside her head. Sachiko wrapped her arms around her body and miserably wondered what karmic debt she had incurred in her previous life for her to suffer so in this one.

 _Eight hours of sleep, was that too much to hope for? After all the crap today?_

Grumbling thusly to herself, she made her way through the residential area of the village, all thatched huts with roofs held down by heavy stones. Past the slumbering houses, past the wooden lookout tower, past the grainery, and into the fields.

The half-moon shone brightly, lighting the narrow path between the rice paddies. Sachiko never knew moonlight could be so bright, that too not the light of a full moon. Here she was, trudging through a feudal village, at a time period five hundred years before her own, intending to _grow_ _rice_ , of all things. Life truly was strange. She hoped no one spotted her- she was embarrassed enough going alone.

She reached the center of the area spanned by rice fields,where the chain disappeared. She took a few steps back and the links appeared again. She shook her head and looked around at the green and golden sea. She wasn't an expert on rice, but even she could tell that the grains hanging off the half-withered stems didn't amount to much.

 _Okay_ , she thought, watching the slender stems sway in the wind, _Now what?_ How in the world was she supposed to make the crops prosper? She sank down to a squat, running a hand through her ebony locks. "This is way out of my league", she muttered under her breath.

Haruo had said something- what was that?

The story of the drop of honey, she thought back. It was a tale that spoke of disastrous consequences that may follow the most innocuous of actions.

 _Once upon a time, there was a merchant who sold honey in a shop that was near the border between two friendly kingdoms. One day, he accidentally spilled a drop of honey on the floor in front of his shop. At once it attracted a swarm of flies buzzing nearby. A bird, seeing this, flew down and began to peck at the flies. The honey-seller had a pet cat, which pounced upon the bird, killing it instantly. Now, the adjacent shop was that of a butcher who was from the neighboring country. He kept a dog that he had raised from a little puppy. The dog jumped at the sight of the cat, barking viciously and biting it. The honey-seller was enraged and threw a heavy pot at the dog. It unfortunately hit the dog's head and killed it at once._

 _The butcher was devastated at the loss of his beloved dog. In a moment of blind rage fueled by his grief, he struck the honey-seller with his meat cleaver and killed him. He instantly regretted his action, but alas, the deed was done, and no amount of regret could bring back the dead. He decided that the safest thing to do was to elope to his country. However, the honey merchant had some faithful friends, who hunted the butcher down in his hiding spot and murdered him for revenge._

 _The news of the murder reached the king of the butcher's country. He demanded the neighboring kingdom to surrender the culprits, only for it to be ignored by its arrogant king. The enraged king proclaimed war._

 _The war lasted for years, causing great loss and destruction to both sides, and the two countries remained forever in a state of unrest, their amiable relations lost for good._

 _All of which can be traced back to a single drop of honey._

The story seemed far-fetched as far as she was concerned. Not everything could be attributed to the eponymous drop of honey. Human failings were responsible as well. Any one of the characters could have done something differently and rose above their base natures to avert disaster.

Then again, these failings were one of the many things that made us human. So perhaps in the end, everything boiled down to fate? Perhaps events are only playing out as predestined by some divine entity? Was free will really an illusion? Was there really an endgame to destiny?

Sachiko sneezed. What was she doing standing in the cold at the wee hours of morning analyzing fairytales?

However, she did understand what he was trying to tell her.

If a drop of honey could cause disaster, imagine what an action like what she hoped to accomplish could lead to in the future?

 _If something like the beat of butterfly wings could create a typhoon on the other side of the world..._

Scenario number one, she pondered _, I somehow manage to increase the amount of rice- the villagers are happy, I'm happy, and nobody dies of starvation._

 _And, scenario number two- I fail miserably, or I decide not to do it- the villagers starve, I get nightmares for the rest of my life._

But what if- what if she somehow succeeded, and someone who would have died otherwise ended up being a dictator and killed everybody? Or if they were under attack by some invading lord? And bandits. Surely there must be some robbers or thieves or people of that sort in this time period: this was the era of the warring states, after all. And if it did, it would all be on her- all the bloodshed, all the pain, everything because she thought she could barge in and change people's lives. What if this land was barren for a reason? There were a gazillion ways how things could blow over and turn a lot _lot_ worse than they actually were before she meddled in them.

But what if she was supposed to help them? What if that was why she was brought here? What if, there was just 'good' and no 'greater good' here?

Sachiko let out a deep, slow breath. This was much difficult than she had initially thought. And she still had no clue about growing rice.

"Argh! I should have asked him what to do!" She cried into the solitude around her.

 _And then she finds herself in darkness, two paths opening in front of her. One path shows the villagers beaming with happiness and praising God for the best harvest they've had in years. The other shows them hungry and anxious, bitter-faced, stealing and killing. She looks beyond. The paths fork into multiple paths, each of which branch into more paths, some of which merge with other paths and then diverge into others and-_

 _A hand gently covers her eyes._

 _"Don't look at it for too long", Haruo's voice says, "It is a maddeningly intricate pattern- you can look forever and still be confused."_

 _"Then what do I do?" She breaths. The scent of marigolds surrounds her._

 _"Trust your instincts", he says simply. Behind his hand, she frowns._

 _"That's a terrible answer." She hears him chuckle._

 _"I believe in you, Sachiko", he says, "I know that you will do what's required. I want you to have faith in yourself, as I have in you."_

And then she was standing in the rice fields again, the warmth of his hand still lingering on her eyes, staring at the half-withered rice plants.

She knew what to do. Or at least, she thought she did. _I hope I don't inadvertently start the apocalypse._

 _I really hope this is the right thing to do._

She breathed deeply. She had the powers of a God. She could do this.

She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, hoping she didn't look stupid doing it. She was in a sea of rice plants- She could feel their subtle energy brushing against her. Under her feet was the soil- and deep beneath was water. She willed them to lend their energy to the withered plants, to nourish them and let them bear fruit. There were imprints of other energies as well- the energy of the villagers, traces of them, which told her of the laborious preparation of the soil, the sowing of the seeds, weeding, watering...It spoke of long hours toiling beneath an unforgiving sun, their sweat and blood, their prayers for good yield...She remembered their tired, sunken faces.

 _Please_ , she prayed in earnest _, they must have worked so hard…_

She heard the answering call, energy swelling around her, light and wind and water and earth, rising to meet her and then, _life..._

 _Spiralling around her, the eddies of energy that cocooned her in an amniotic warmth...Bright,_ so bright...

For years afterwards, the villagers would tell stories of how their crops had flourished overnight, as if by the touch of a loving, divine hand. Some people claimed they had seen a woman walking among the fields, leaving a glowing trail of light so bright that it changed the night to day for a moment. From that day forth they would have a decent harvest every year. It was as if their lands were blessed by the heavens itself.

Sachiko sank down to the ground, experiencing a weariness so profound that it extended deep within her bones. The light had ebbed down, vanishing into the earth and air.

Must not fall asleep here, she reminded herself, deeply gratified as she gazed at the stalks bowing under the weight of the grains they bore. She held a golden stalk tenderly in her hands, unable to believe what she had just accomplished.

 _Wow._

There were fireflies flickering around the rice fields, hundreds upon hundreds of them, lighting up the night. She suspected that they had something to do with Haruo.

She traced back the path she came from, hoping she wouldn't be lost now that the chain had disappeared. Maybe she could ask the kodama to show the way.

She looked up at the branches of a tree in front of her searchingly.

Lounging gracefully on a high branch was Sesshomaru, cast against the bright silvery moonlight, regarding her with amber eyes that glowed predatorily in the darkness. An expression of mild interest flickered away as soon as she chanced to spot it on his face. A cool breeze blew across the landscape, lifting her hair, scattering fireflies across her field of vision.

 _He saw,_ a sensible part of her brain noted, mildly anxious. The other part of her was mesmerized by the silver locks of his hair as it danced in the wind.

 _I bet that hair never tangles,_ she found herself thinking dazedly.

"If you are done staring, human", his deep, monotonous voice spoke, hinting at distaste. Sachiko felt her cheeks heat up.

"Look who's talking!" she burst with righteous indignation, "Stalker!" Sesshomaru raised an elegantly shaped eyebrow.

"Oh?" He scoffed smoothly, "Don't flatter yourself, girl."

 _He does have a point you know_ , her inferiority complex suggested. She irately grit her teeth and sulked. _It's way too early in the morning to start feeling bad for myself._ She let her breath out through gritted teeth. She did owe him for bringing her to the village, unintentional as it was.

"Erm…Anyway, thank you for earlier", she said stiffly. "I would probably still be stuck in the forest if you hadn't shown me the way."

Sesshomaru stared at her with those unnerving golden eyes that were clearly questioning her sanity. The silence stretched out for far too long to be comfortable. Sachiko felt the corners of her mouth beginning to morph into a grimace. It seemed she wouldn't be graced with a response.

 _Al_ righty _then._ She gritted her teeth, turned on her heels and and stiffly marched out of the fields, scowling.

"Girl", his voice stopped her on her tracks, "I will ask you again, what are you?"

"Me? I'm, I'm a..." A humble, self-effacing part of her psyche couldn't bring herself to utter the word 'god'. "I'm Sachiko," She finished lamely instead. "And as for what I am", she gazed at the bountiful rice fields, "I don't think I'm still entirely sure." She sighed and pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ears. "Hey, if you don't mind, could you not tell what just happened to anyone? It's just that I-"

She turned and stared blankly at the empty branches, embarrassment coloring her cheeks _. He left_? Her mouth fell open in affronted disbelief.

"Huh!" she exclaimed accusingly at the tree, "That little-!"

She huffed in exasperation and stomped off towards the general direction of Kaede's hut _. How rude!_

 _Whatever_! She thought crossly _. I'm out of here tomorrow anyway._

* * *

"Sachiko-san." Someone was shaking her. " _Sachiko-san."_

"Nggh, it's Sunday…", she informed whoever it was, turning to the other side. A small voice in her head reminded her it was actually Saturday.

 _Shut it_ , she ordered it flippantly, still snug in the embrace of sleep.

"Sachiko-san", the voice, marked with age said, "You said you had to return early to your world."

 _My… world?_ She considered sleepily. _Oh that's right…_

 _I have class!_

"Shit, it's Saturday!" She bolted up, heart sinking as she saw the hut a bit more well-lit than she would have liked. The old priestess beside her sat back in surprise and stared at her with confused eyes. "S-sorry Kaede-san", she said awkwardly in a cracked, sleepy voice. "I was…um…", she gestured vaguely with her hands.

"It is… quite alright, Sachiko-san."

"What time is it? " She piped in a small voice, fearing the worst.

"Well, it is almost noon."

"Ugh", she groaned and buried her head in her hands. "I knew it, I overslept! Again!" She muttered into her hand, "I am so screwed! My attendance is in such bad shape, they're definitely going to hold me back this time!"

"Sachiko?" Kaede said in a voice marked with puzzlement. "Forgive me, child, I tried waking you but you were in such deep sleep that you wouldn't rise."

"No no", she interjected, "I'm sure it was my fault. Let me freshen up a bit and then I'll be out of your hair." The hut looked much fuller than yesterday night. She blinked at the packages of produce that were lined up against the hut's walls.

"These are from the villagers", Kaede informed, "Something…happened last night." Sachiko made a show of rubbing sleep from her eyes, buying time to prepare herself to look surprised. _Alright, eyebrows raised, eyes a little widened…_

"Something in the rice fields…", Kaede trailed off cautiously, keeping her eyes trained on Sachiko.

"Oh, what?" Sachiko tried feigning innocence, but by the looks of it, the worldly priestess wasn't buying her little act.

"Sachiko-san", she said in a level voice, "I saw you return to the hut yesterday night."

 _Of course!_ She lamented internally. Stealth, it seemed, was not her strong suit. Sachiko groped around for any excuse that would sound plausible, and finding none, sighed heavily.

"It was me", she admitted, "I was the one who…made the rice grow." It's probably alright, she reasoned, she was leaving for good anyway, and wasn't planning to return. Ever. Even if someone broke into her apartment and tried to drag her back forcefully. Nuh-uh.

Surprise colored the withered lines of the old priestess's face.

"But… how?"

"It's because…I have the powers of a god", she said in a rush of words.

"Sachiko-san", the old woman mouthed with wide, fervent eyes, "You are…a god?"

"I…I just have the powers of one", she amended in a low voice. "I'm not really a…" Sachiko watched, horrified, as the old priestess bent forward to bow before her. "Don't!" She cried before she could prostrate herself. "Don't…do that."

"But Sachiko-sama…", Kaede breathed reverentially, "I knew it, your aura was just so…"

"Don't call me that, I'm just...human, okay?" Sachiko dropped her head, letting her hair fall on either side of her face. "Listen, Kaede-san", she said, "whatever powers I have, they don't belong to me, I didn't even have them a day ago. And I'm pretty sure the God who gave them to me is going to take them back once… whatever he is planning to happens." She gazed at the old priestess, "Then I guess I'd return to being a normal person again. So what I am saying is… I would appreciate if you don't let anyone else know." Kaede regarded her quizzically for a long moment.

"I understand", she said finally. "But Sachiko-san you must know, for a God to grant you his power…you must have a blessed soul."

"I don't really know about that", she murmured sheepishly, twisting a lock of her hair around with her finger. "I still haven't figured out what all this means."

"Anyway it's high time I returned to my era."

 **o. o. o. o**

"Thank you again for the kimono my lord", Rin chirped, patting Un's head, giggling when Ah nuzzled the side of her cheek.

Sesshomaru tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Will you be visiting soon, Sesshomaru-sama?"

"Now look here, Rin!" Jaken squawked, "The lordship has many important duties to perform. He doesn't have time to come and visit this stinky human village to see you!"

"Oh, I see", she said good-spiritedly. "Then come back as soon as you can, Sesshomaru-sama!"

"Hn", Sesshomaru said. He wasn't used to making farewells, neither was he any good at them. He watched Rin throw her arms around a protesting Jaken, a grin splitting her face, saying goodbye, and I hope you grow a bit taller the next time, Jaken-sama. Jaken spluttered with rage and indignation.

"Rin", said the demon lord, "If you are in want of anything, you will let me know."

"Of course, my lord."

"Insufferable child!" Jaken huffed and extracted himself from her grip. "When will you start acting more lady-like?"

Rin said nothing, only laughed her mirthful, girlish laugh and threw herself at Jaken again.

Sesshomaru watched the pretty smile on the face of his former ward, one much more sophisticated than the dopey, foolish grin punctuated with a broken tooth she had flashed at him on that fateful day. She had come a long way from that scrawny brat, living a carefree, comfortable life in the human village. As long as she lived, she would be in lack of nothing- all she needed to do was ask. She was well and happy here, and he would care for her as long as it pleased him to do so.

Perhaps it was the right thing to do, Sesshomaru reflected, leaving her with her own kind. He thought of his last visit to his mother's palace- when he had held her cold, dead body to his breast and cursed himself for his foolishness, that feeling of losing something forever-something so precious it was barely appreciated when he had the chance to.

And that maddening rush of relief that almost brought him to his knees when she opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"You will care for yourself well", Sesshomaru instructed, his voice soft.

"Hai, Sesshomaru-sama!" She enthused, cuddling a scandalized Jaken. She was significantly taller than when she had been travelling with him and it was more difficult for Jaken to escape from her long-armed embrace. She had grown in the three summers since they parted ways, yet she somehow still remained the same.

Sesshomaru turned back and strode into the darkness of the forest.

"Let go, Rin!" Jaken wriggled out her grasp and followed his master. The imp turned back and scowled sternly. "Take care!" He said in a tone that sounded like he was accusing her of something. Ah-Un sadly keened at her, as if saying goodbye, and took off after them.

"Good bye my lord! Good bye Jaken-sama! Ah-Un! " She called out, her voice bright and sweet and full of careless, youthful joy. Sesshomaru glanced back at his smiling ward and decided that as long as she was safe, all was well.

Perhaps one day she might turn into a stranger, but right now she was Rin.

And right now, that was enough.

 **O. O. O**

The village was much livelier than what she had seen last night. The villagers came up to Kaede, broad smiles on their faces, bowing profusely and thanking her for all her prayers, because it couldn't have been anything but her appellations that had brought such good fortune to their little village. Sachiko couldn't help but smile as they beamed at the old priestess. Unknowingly, they were right on the mark. If Kaede hadn't made her wish, they would have had to be content with their poor yield.

"It is a miracle Kaede- sama!" a man who had introduced himself as Rikichi said exuberantly, "All fields in the village have flourished! Some people keep insisting they had seen a goddess in the fields last night. Do you think there's any truth to such claims?"

"Most likely", the old priestess said sagaciously. "There is no other explanation as to how the crops flourished overnight. That too almost a month before their original harvest time."

"I see", the man blinked. "Do you think the god would like a festival to be held in their honor?"

"I do not know", Kaede supposed, then turned to Sachiko, "What do ye think, Sachiko-san?"

"Ah... _um_?" She stammered, taken aback. "I mean, _ahem,_ I think the god wouldn't mind if it made the villagers happy", she said carefully, a tinge of pink on her cheeks. The old priestess chuckled at her flustered expression.

"Well, there ye have it", Kaede said. Rikichi's expression brightened.

"Of course! " He said, "We cannot thank the god enough for such a great blessing; I will let the elders know immediately!" The man bowed to both of them and took his leave.

"I haven't seen him in such high spirits for a long time- in fact, I haven't seen any of the villagers this happy in a long while." Kaede smiled gratefully. "It is all thanks to ye, Sachiko- san."

"Actually", she corrected, "if you hadn't made the wish, I wouldn't have been able to do anything. They are lucky to have someone like you, Kaede-san." A group of giggling children ran by, waving at the old miko. Kaede waved back, smiling.

"And I am grateful I have them to care for as well", she said softly.

The old priestess led her through the woods and to the bone-eater's well. It sat there innocently, grass crowding around it, butterflies fluttering in its vicinity, looking deceptively nondescript in the middle of the meadow. A villager had brought back 'a suspicious object' he had found in the woods and that was the story of how she got her purse back. It had been a nice adventure, she reflected, but she really didn't think she could take another one.

"Goodbye Kaede-san", she said, "Thanks for everything."

"It has been a pleasure, Sachiko-san. And I can't thank ye enough."

"Sachiko-san!" A girlish cry resounded from above her. Sachiko looked up just in time to see Inuyasha land near her, seemingly from the skies, and Kagome clambering down from his back. "Please", she said, hakama billowing as she ran to her, "Just wait one moment!"

"Oh, Kagome", she said, "And you too Inuyasha-kun." _Was that my imagination or did he jump all the way down here?_

"I have a favor to ask of you!" Kagome sounded desperate.

"Of course", she said, slightly taken aback. Inuyasha walked away to stand next to Kaede, scowl in place, arms crossed. Sachiko stared from the scowling boy to the young girl in front of her, comprehending something so obvious that it was incredibly dense of her to not have picked up on it earlier.

 _Oh,_ she thought, _So that's why she stays here._

"My family", Kagome said, "could you please let them know that I'm well? It's been only about three months since I left, but… Tell mama I miss her, and Souta, and my Jii-chan", her eyes misted over with tears, "Tell them I'm happy here, with Inuyasha and the others, and that I'm sorry…and thanks, for letting me go…" Kagome smiled, wiping her tears with a dainty hand. "Ah, look at me", she said wistfully, "I'm getting all emotional."

"Of course, Kagome", Sachiko said with a smile, "I will tell them."

"Am I asking too much of you?"

"Don't be ridiculous, this is the least I could do after all the help you gave me. They even live by the shrine, don't they?" Kagome nodded.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye then", she said, lowering herself to the ancient wood and swinging her legs over the mouth, somewhat hesitant to let go of the rim. "I really hope this works", she muttered to herself, watching the strange darkness beneath her dangling feet. _And that I don't break anything._

A shadow passed over her.

Floating in the sky was Sesshomaru, his fur-pelt trailing behind him, shining in stark white against the bright blue of the heavens, hair streaming silver, looking like he had popped right out the pages of a fairy-tale.

 _Ah, it's that rude jerk_. Despite her less than positive opinion regarding his personality, she didn't fail to get herself an eyeful. _But wow, that's just beautiful._

"Hey, are you gonna sit there gawkin' all day?!" Inuyasha said impatiently from her side.

"Ah-no!" She colored brilliantly, her mortification at having been caught ogling winning momentarily against her sense of self-preservation. Hands sliding off the wooden rim, Sachiko jumped. The darkness rose to claim her, and then the well glowed blue.

"Why do you have to be such a jerk, Inuyasha?!" Kagome yanked at his ear.

"Ow!" Inuyasha winced. "What did _I_ do?" Kaede hobbled towards the well and looked inside.

"It seems she made it", said the old priestess, "Good for ye, Sachiko-san."

* * *

Rin kept smiling till her the forest closed around her lord and he disappeared from view. She kept smiling long after that, till her jaw began to hurt, because she was expected to, because she was _Rin_ , and it was _Rin's_ job to smile and look happy and pretend she was alright with everything, pretend she was okay with always being the one left behind.

And then the corners of her mouth turned down, the smile turning on itself. A sob quivered in her throat and she gazed into the forest, where, beyond what her feeble eyes could see, her lord walked, making the world shift and neatly arrange itself around him, just as he does with everything, just as had done with her life.

She didn't question him when he had decided to leave her in the village. She was supposed to be perfectly obeisant, perfectly happy, no matter what turns her life took, because that was what he expected of her. And being the weak little girl she was, that was the only thing she could do to repay the lord she loved with all her heart and owed her life to.

He'll be back, she thought desperately, he always comes back for me.

 _But one day, he will be gone for good._

The thought frightened her to no end, made her lay awake for hours at night staring at the rafters of the hut while Kaede softly snored to her side, wishing she was curled up against the cool, scaly body of Ah-Un under the stars, with Jaken snoring somewhere near, with Sesshomaru watching over her. She felt the world turning, changing her- ageing her body, growing steadily towards decay and death. Her childish hopes and idealism were not enough to sustain her anymore against the dark fingers of doubt that crept across her brain.

She wanted to stay the Rin her lord needed-the pure little _Rin_ who could laugh and sing silly songs and hug him as much as she wanted. But all her hopes and pure intentions were powerless against the flow of time, which mercilessly ticked away, changing her into someone her lord didn't need, someone who was outgrowing her usefulness. Already she could feel the impossible distance between them widening. The youkai prince and the little human girl, and between them the deep, howling chasm.

It had been her kind soul, her pure, bright love that had thawed the demon's heart. But she didn't feel pure or bright or kind anymore _._ Something dark and ugly reared its head inside her heart and _wanted._

She just couldn't keep giving herself away freely anymore, not without expecting something, _something,_ back- something concrete, something that spoke of forever, something she could turn over in her mind on the lonely days she missed her companions. Jaken was right, she reflected bitterly, in the end, she was only just a puny human girl.

And so the lord had washed his hands off her, cast her off without an afterthought, shoved her into the arms of the willing old miko, so that she could get better at pretending to be a normal human girl _after all she had been through..._

Resentment flashed red in her heart, drowning out all the thoughts crowding within, slicing through her soul like the sharp edge of blade. Her lord who abandoned her, who didn't care enough to take responsibility for what he had saved, who brought her back to leave her alone again...

She felt a ravine open up beneath her feet, threatening to suck her in, promising her an oblivion she had tasted so briefly in the underworld. Rin the little orphan who died, and came back, and died again and lived again and now was currently dying in little pieces, still unwanted. How sad.

Did she hate him? He had told she could return when she was of age, if that was what she chose. But could she? An unworthy, tainted creature such as herself... And even if she did, would things go back to what they once were- those days of sun-dappled skin and and feet caressed by soft grass and laughter and freedom and flawless, untainted love...

She _hated_ herself. For being so human that she couldn't help changing, couldn't help growing out of _Rin_. Sometimes she loathed herself so much that it felt like parts of herself began to flicker and disappear."Who am I?" She murmured through dry lips, the breeze stealing her voice. She reeled on her feet like reed in the wind, a weary hollowness in her bones, as if she would turn to dust and scatter far away in the summer breeze, where not even her lord could find her. _Any moment now._

How badly she wanted to stay _Rin._ Not this half-creature, this counterfeit of the little girl her lord loved.

Kaede was calling for her. _RinRinRinRinRin._ Rin plastered a smile on, wore the mask of _Rin_ , feeling herself dissolve and fade at the edges as she made her way to the priestess's hut.

* * *

 ** _And that kids, is how a mononoke is born. ( Sorry, 'Mononoke' reference.)_**

 ** _Hmm... Such angst for a kid... I_** _ **n the story, Rin is around twelve-ish, and that too a child who has gone through much, much more than normal human children. Couple that with sudden abandonment issues, daddy issues, adjustment disorder... I guess she could start having angsty thoughts, ne?**_

 _ **1) In case I'm such a crappy writer that I couldn't properly tell you what I was going for:**_

 _Basically, what I was trying to show here was how Rin wants things to stay the same, how she feels unworthy because her thoughts were beginning to change, because she was beginning to want him to reciprocate her love. Even if she chose to return to follow him, she would still keep on wanting proof, and that would only estrange them more, because that is what humans do, conditional, insecure creatures that we are. She hates how she is becoming more and more human as days pass._

 _I didn't want it to come off as Rin having romantic feelings for Sesshomaru, just a case of strong feelings of parental abandonment, of love that is more like devotion (What, that's a thing), and a mild Peter-pan complex. She wants to be by his side, but feels unworthy, because she cannot love him the way she used to- unconditionally._

 _Now does that make sense to anyone else? No? Okay...*cries*_

 _I wasn't originally planning to write so much for this chapter, but I guess I wanted it to end where it does **.**_

 ** _2) Author's notes_**

 ** _Author's note #1:_ _The Story of the Drop of Honey is something I read long back in 'A Thousand and One Arabian Tales.' Borrowed for- you guessed it-nefarious purposes._**

 ** _Author's note #2:_ _Haruo can smoke whatever he wants. You know why? Cuz' he has no lungs! *_ _ **g** ets pelted with rotten eggs*_**

 ** _Ahem... So as I was saying, just because I wrote about smoking doesn't mean I endorse it or think it's "cool". Lung cancer is a gruesome, gruesome reality. There are much better, more peaceful ways to die than by choking on your own blood. Trust me, I know._**

 ** _*tries to exit looking cool* *Slips on banana peel *_**

 ** _Will Sachiko return home? Where does Sesshomaru go when he leaves? And what exactly is Haruo smoking? Stay tuned for the next chapter!_**

 ** _Review if you want more!_**


	5. Of Heartbreaks and Chew toys

**_Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing her characters for my own nefarious purposes. Kodama belongs to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghilbi. Again, nefarious purposes._**

 ** _Umm...adult themes._**

 ** _...Blessed..._**

* * *

 _ **Of Heartbreaks and Chew toys**_

 _"Well, now_  
 _If little by little you stop loving me_  
 _I shall stop loving you_  
 _Little by little_  
 _If suddenly you forget me_  
 _Do not look for me_

 _For I shall already have forgotten you"_

— _**Pablo Neruda (Selected Poems)**_

 _ **...**_

A key turned in the lock of a small apartment in Tokyo metropolis. Its owner stumbled in and closed the door behind her, leaning against the smooth polished wood and breathing in deeply, staring at the white roof in gratuitous disbelief. Shakily, she tossed her shoes to the genkan and slipped on her house slippers, passing the kitchen and living areas and stumbling into her bedroom, where, with a huge, relieved sigh, she collapsed onto the softness of the bedding.

"I made it", Sachiko mumbled heavily, cheek against the mattress, although everything had been fairly easy once she had climbed out of the splintery old well. Some people had stared at her rather rough-spun yukata, but she didn't stand out much because of it. Not one person suspected that she had woken up in a different time period that day.

The first thing she had registered when the blue light died down in the well was the smell of exhaust, sharp and pungent, clogging her nostrils, making her stomach roil a little. The darkness above told her she was in the well house again. She sank down to the damp earth inside the muggy well, sighing in overwhelming relief.

The flash of light had nearly blinded her. Squinting, she looked at the mouth of the well where someone was shining a flashlight.

" _Kagome_?" the man had said expectantly.

"No", she'd told the silhouette cast by the beam of light, "I'm not her. Could you please help me get out of here?" There was a short pause before he spoke again.

"There's a ladder over there", he had said, "You…you are not a demon, are you?"

"No", she'd said sternly, her voice ringing against the walls of the well. _Ugh, what a charmer,_ she'd thought irately. Gripping the ladder, she scaled the rungs carefully, the young man helping her up the last few steps, holding out his hand to her. He introduced himself as Souta.

"I'm Sachiko, nice to meet you."

"Um… What were you doing in there?" His eyes had widened with slow realization, taking in her traditional attire.

"I went through the well", she admitted. "To the past. I was pushed into it. I met your sister as well."

Souta had led her through the quiet shrine grounds, the chill of the morning air spreading goosebumps on her skin through the light yukata. It seemed to be only around six in the morning in the real world when it was noontime in the feudal era, so that meant either time went by faster in the past, or she had missed a whole day in the well as she traveled between the time periods.

Passing the main shrine building that looked tranquil in the cool morning mist, they stepped into a cute pink house in a white picket-fenced compound. A middle-aged woman who looked like Kagome had greeted her.

"I'm glad to know she's alright", she had said, placing a steaming mug of green tea in front of her.

"She's really happy there", Sachiko said truthfully, "but she misses you all a lot."

"I see", the woman had smiled, laugh lines forming around her eyes. Something about her spoke of a silent, understated strength. "We miss her too, more than we can bear. But staying here would only have made her miserable. She was suffering as it was, and I had to let her go." She'd sighed heavily. "It saddens me that I will probably never see her again. But perhaps that is for the best." There was a silence in which Sachiko had groped around for things to say- she was never any good with words.

"I would have clicked some pictures for you", she'd said lamely, "but I kinda lost my phone…" She wondered if that was the right thing to tell a mother who missed her daughter and berated herself for not having come up with something more soothing.

"Oh, about that…" Souta had ran out of the room and reappeared with her phone, laying it on the polished table. It had taken serious damage- thin cracks ran across the surface screen like spider webs.

"The screen is…" he piped apologetically. "It was like that when I found it." Sachiko had smiled and shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal, placing the phone back in her purse, while inwardly mourning the loss of her beloved cellphone and also the scrounged up money she would have to part with for repairs.

"How did you pass through the well anyway?" Souta had asked. "Only Kagome and Inuyasha could."

"I don't know, I was sort of…pulled into it."

"It's our fault", Mrs. Higurashi had said, "We keep expecting that Kagome would come home someday, so we couldn't bring ourselves to close the well. Father even placed a ladder in it", she chuckled. "I apologize. It must have been frightening."

"It was", she had blurted without thinking. "I mean-", she amended hastily, "it was my fault-I shouldn't have gone to the well house in the first place."

She had said goodbye to the Higurashis, politely refusing their offer of breakfast, boarded a bus, and here she was, finally in the safety of her own space.

 _I...died,_ she mulled, picking absently at the loose threads of the bedspread, _I really_ died. _As in literally._

It all seemed like a particularly crazy dream now that she was in a place with concrete walls and laminated flooring and the ever-present buzz of the city around her."It was a dream", she told herself, contentedly running her hand over the soft bedspread. "That's all it was."She closed her eyes. "I love you bed", she whispered into the mattress, "I'm never going to leave you again."

Her doorbell rang that instant, almost as if the universe was colluding to get her ass out of bed. She irately checked the time on her little black timepiece.

"Seven thirty AM?" she mouthed despairingly and dragged herself up from bed to trod over to the door. "Seven-effing-thirty AM!" She muttered and swung the door open to reveal a young woman with dark eyes behind horn-rimmed spectacles, not a hair out of place.

"Hey Rhi", she greeted the half-English half-Japanese girl wearily, "I mean Rhiannon."

"Hello Sachiko", Rhiannon replied, "May I come in?"

"Yeah, sure", she moved over. Rhiannon gracefully bent to place her shoes on the little closet and slipped on the house-slippers, tight-lipped disapproval evident at the carelessly strewn shoes in the genkan. Sachiko shrugged, chastised, and placed the footwear orderly in the shoe-closet after her. "You're early."

"I was at the gym", Rhiannon said breezily, "What are you wearing?"

"Oh, it's an old yukata", she lied, "It used to belong to my grandma."

"Hmm", Rhiannon replied, "Vintage?"

 _You have no idea._ Sachiko hummed noncommittally. Rhiannon let herself settle in the sofa, elegantly folding her knees, posture perfect. She was wearing her house-clothes, and as tidy as they were, it meant she wasn't going to class that day.

"Class?" Rhiannon blinked when she asked, "It's some business holiday today, there is no class."

"Yes!" Sachiko cheered. "Thank God!"

"You should not be so happy for it", Rhiannon lectured in her aristocratic voice, "How are you supposed to know what to study if you don't go to class?"

"Mortals such as myself rejoice when there's a holiday", said Sachiko cheerfully. "Sit tight. I'll get you some tea."

"Oh, there's really no need", she said, "I must get going soon."

"Okay. How about water?"

"Yes please."

Sachiko went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of cool water.

"Where were you yesterday?" Rhiannon asked "I came by twice, and your place was locked."

"Oh I was at Kagome's place", She said without thinking. "She's my friend from high-school. I ran into her yesterday and one thing lead to another...Did you need anything?"

"No", Rhiannon quipped. "You said you were sick and I just wanted to check on you. Is that why you never returned my calls yesterday?"

"I broke my screen", she said, laughing evasively, inwardly astonished at her ability to lie so much. Then again, a couple of white- lies were much preferable to admitting that she had been sauntering around in feudal Japan and coming across as completely bonkers. By the looks of it, Rhiannon was buying what she was selling.

"Again?"

"Yeahhh…" she said awkwardly. Rhiannon sighed.

"You really should start taking better care of your belongings", she admonished, then in a quiet voice, continued, "Something happened yesterday. I was walking down the street and…suddenly a car crashed into the sidewalk."

"Oh", Sachiko said in shock.

"It would have hit me, Sachiko, but somehow I was spared", her accent was becoming more evident, and with Rhiannon, that only happened when she was at her most vulnerable. "It felt like someone grabbed my hand and stopped me." Sachiko said nothing. _So that really happened,_ she thought. She had _actually_ went dimension-hopping with the god. She was under the impression that that incident had just been an illusion he was showing her, intending her to learn something about chance, or fragility of life, or whatever.

"I thought…for a moment there, I thought I saw you…", Rhiannon said in a whisper.

"Me?" Sachiko mouthed, feigning incredulity. Did she really save her life then? If she hadn't run after her, the elegant, dignified girl sitting next to her would have...Sachiko didn't want to think about it.

"I know", Rhiannon said, a small smile in her normally clipped voice."That's not possible."

"I'm so glad you are fine Rhi", she said sincerely, sinking into the sofa. She wanted to hold her hand, but Rhiannon had a thing against unnecessary physical contact. "From now on, don't walk around with your phone stuck to your ear, okay? Be a bit more careful, will ya?" Rhiannon started at her quizzically.

"How did you know?"

"What?"

"That I was on my phone?"

"…Just a guess."

"I see."

"Hey", Sachiko frowned, leaning forward, "Can you smile once? And try to look… I dunno, _happy_. And cuter. Relax your face." She cocked her head to the side.

"What?" Rhiannon raised an eyebrow.

"I meant, um…just…", she cocked her head again and looked at her, squinting. "Maybe if you opened your hair and took of those glasses…"

"Are you ill, Sachiko?" She said, drawing back a little.

"No, it's just that…" she drew back, "You look like someone I saw recently." She tilted her head to the other side, "Or do you?"

"Who?"

"Never mind."

"You are acting strange, you know", Rhiannon pushed her specs up the bridge of her long nose. "When did you get contacts? Not that it's any of my business, just asking."

"Contacts?"

"You are not going to tell me your eyes were always green now are you?" She inquired in her dignified, visiting-royalty voice.

"My eyes… _green_? " she mumbled dumbly. Rhiannon narrowed her eyes. "Oh the... _contacts_! I've…had them for a while, just hadn't put them on yet. Bored with the usual brown color and all that, y'know. Haha." Rhiannon looked at her strangely.

"Are you sure you are not ill?" Sachiko tried not to take it personally when she took out a hand-sanitizer and spread it on her hands. _Nope,_ she mused, _Still difficult not to be offended. Even after a year._

"Anyway, take care of your eyes. You don't want to get keratitis from the lens. And don't go near fire. Or smoke. I will mail you a PDF regarding the precautions one should take while using contact lens."

"Thanks Rhi", she said, smiling awkwardly.

"Well, I best get going now. I only came because you didn't answer the phone."

"Aw", she teased, "You were worried about me."

"I suppose…you could say that", she stated so seriously that it was endearing. "Goodbye, Sachiko. Stay in bed today if you do not feel well."

"I'm fine Rhi", Sachiko rolled her eyes. Rhiannon opened her mouth as if to berate her for the nickname, then simply sighed and shook her head.

"Take care anyway."

"I will, bye." Sachiko watched her leave. And then she slammed the door shut and bolted to the bedroom.

"Shit", she muttered in awe, looking at the mirror on her dresser. Her eyes were indeed green instead of their usual dark brown, the same color she had noted on Haruo's irises. She didn't know what to make of this ophthalmic miracle. _Well, at least they are pretty,_ she thought, biting her lip and examining her irises standing closer to the mirror. _I guess I could stick with the contact lens story if anyone asks._

The jade of her irises reminded her of leaves rustling in the wind, reminded her of the mysterious God who deemed it fit to complicate her life further, her little tryst with the past, the rice fields, the forest in the moonlight, the spirits…

 _How strange,_ she found herself thinking, _all of that really happened._

" _Mrow_." She was woken from her reverie by a sullen, accusing sound.

"Cat", she beamed. The grey tabby strutted imperiously; tail held high, gazing at her with fluorescent yellow eyes that silently disapproved of her. "Oh, you didn't eat yesterday, did you?"

The cat mewed grumpily. She went to the kitchen and filled a bowl with leftover rice from the previous day's lunch. The tabby stared at her judgmentally. She sighed and rolled her eyes, went into the kitchen again and came back with a piece of dried fish which she lowered into the bowl. "For your information, that was the last piece." The cat made a show of sniffing it and then proceeded to dig in.

"You can't really push me around you know", she told the cat, "It's not like you are my pet or anything." The cat flicked its ear as response, not taking its attention off the food. She watched it lick the last bit of food from the bowl, tail twitching in contentment. She reached out to pet it on its furry little head. The cat neatly side-stepped her hand, leapt gracefully across the floor, slithered up the wall to the half open window and slid out with a flick of its tail, all in the space of seconds.

"You stupid cat!" She hollered after it in annoyance, "See if I ever feed you again!"

"Freeloader", she mumbled irately to herself, clearing the dishes. Why hadn't she done something about that cat yet? Somehow the grey tabby had taken up partial residence in her apartment- it was that particular type of cat which seemed to materialize from thin air only during mealtimes and was generally absent at others. In a way, that was good- she didn't have to worry about coughed up furballs or puke on the carpet. But it irritated her how the cat just used her as a two-legged pantry service and wouldn't even give her the comfort of its presence, which was the least benefit anyone could expect from sharing living space with a cat.

"Huh", She spread butter over a piece of bread with a knife, _Imagine that- I'm letting a cat take advantage of me._ She could swear she heard the feline mewing from somewhere mockingly. Sighing, she leaned against the kitchen counter and chewed through her breakfast of toasted bread, staring out the window. _Maybe I should get the laundry done,_ she curtains had definitely seen better days. _And maybe a little vacuuming…dusting…_

 _Ka-ching!_

Somehow she was thinking that her newfound responsibilities were only applicable to the world of the past. It seemed it was not so. She looked at the shackles around her wrist and sighed lightly.

She was never going to find bondage sexy again.

* * *

Strangely enough, the wish had come from an unexpected source.

The maker of the wish rolled over on his back contentedly, exposing his furry belly to her.

"Good boy", she said, gently patting it. The furry little dog yelped happily, chewing the squeaky bone-shaped toy.

"Oh look how happy he is!" Mrs. Morimitsu exclaimed fondly. "I had completely forgotten about the toy- he was making such a racket with it that I thought I should hide it somewhere for a while; and guess what? I forgot where I kept it!" She sighed, wiping her thick glasses with a soft cloth. "I'm telling you dear, being old is _not_ easy."

The golden chain had led to the apartment directly below hers, that of Mrs. Morimitsu. She was on amiable terms with the old lady, but she hadn't known how to explain her sudden visit. The only interaction they have ever had was when they bumped into each other at the corridors. She had a quick shower and a change of clothes before stepping downstairs to knock at her door.

The old woman looked reasonably surprised to find her there. The spitz had yapped viciously at her from her heels.

"Well what are you waiting for dearie? Your tea's getting cold!"

"Um, okay", she sipped the warm liquid, cringing at the syrupy sweetness.

She was more than surprised to find the chain connected to the top of the tall cupboard in the corner of the living room. After exchanging pleasantries, Mrs. Morimitsu hobbled over to the kitchen to prepare tea and she decided to make use of this chance to stand on her tiptoes and grope for the object the golden chain was linked to. The dog had jumped in glee to see the toy in her hands, a far cry from the angry, barking little furball that greeted her at the entrance.

 _That was a heartfelt wish? A chew toy?_ She wondered incredulously, watching the dog roll happily around the apartment with the toy bone in his mouth. It was kind of cute, really, but she had been expecting heartfelt wishes to have more…gravity. Then again, if a soul had wanted to be born into a canine body, perhaps that was its purpose- chewing away without a care in the world? She had next to nil knowledge regarding souls or dogs or the pleasure of chewing rubber, so maybe she shouldn't judge and just appreciate that fact that she was let off easy this time, not having to worry about performing miraculous feats like bringing crops to prosper. _Did I really do that?_ The voice of doubt piped in her head. _Yes, I did,_ she replied smoothly, _So if you would be so kind as to not make me question my sanity and be quiet, that would be wonderful._

She caught Mrs. Morimitsu squirming uneasily in her chair, owing to the lack of conversation that was rapidly becoming too awkward. Her mother would have twisted her ear, even at this age, for being so wrapped up with herself that she forgot she was supposed to converse sometimes. It was an all too easy feat to accomplish when you held debates in your head with yourself. Sachiko gave her an embarrassed smile, and began the arduous task of making small talk.

 _So anyone, any_ thing _, can make a heartfelt wish,_ she found herself musing in the afternoon, deep-cleaning her shelves for the first time in a long while. Dust motes flew to settle on her, making her eyes water and her nose itch. _If so, then I should have been bound with so many chains right now that I would probably be dead already,_ she shook her head antsily at the thought. She filed through some books and decided after a lot of internal conflict, to send them back home or give them away. Her throat constricted and her breaths were coming out as small wheezes.

"I can't take it anymore", she mumbled into the cloth tied around her nose and mouth and stumbled back to recline on the sofa, taking wide, greedy breaths. _Damn allergies._

Why wouldn't there be more heartfelt wishes though? Either people had everything they needed, which was definitely not the case, or they are having their wishes heard by another God. _Or..._ she pondered, _they are not making wishes that is in accordance with their soul's purpose? Are people so out of touch with their souls that they don't know what it wants?_

"Ah-choo!" She groaned and wiped her nose on her sleeve, sniffing the snot back to her sinuses. She really should remember not to let the dust accumulate. Gazing at the dusty tomes stacked up on the floor, she sniffed again. One of the books was that of lesser known Japanese fairy tales. There was a story in it about a demon prince and a human princess. They had fallen in forbidden love and brought a half-demon child to the world. The story had a sad ending as far as she remembered, but what really caught her attention had been the physical description of the demon prince- _hair of moonlight and eyes of glittering gold,_ she reminisced. She had met one jerk who looked like that in the feudal era. "Sesshomaru", she garbled, wondering if the story was about him. Sachiko frowned. _Demon,_ she turned the word over in her mind, _a creature that looks down on humans, that can also probably eat them._ From the haughty way he had addressed her 'human', it wasn't very likely he would be infatuated with a human hime.

Then again, the princess was described as one with long raven-black hair, beautiful porcelain skin and bright eyes that shined with an otherworldly light…or something to that tune. Maybe her loveliness had softened his cold, arrogant heart. As loveliness has been known to do.

"What a jerk", she mumbled, and then wondered why on earth she was getting so worked up about a story. Especially when she had something much more important to do. She eagerly switched on the computer.

"Soichiro- san!" She cooed adoringly, shamelessly stalking the Facebook profile of her crush. Even thinking about him made her heart flutter in her chest with painful joy. She gazed longingly at his dark, curly hair and obsidian eyes that sparkled with intellect. "I promise I'll tell you", she swooned dreamily at the screen, "I don't think you're gonna fall for me or anything, but I promise I will. One day." There was a new tagged picture of him.

 _Who's that?_ She stared at an obviously digitally enhanced picture of him standing with a group of guys. And a girl, older than she was, sophisticated and well-groomed. _Who's…Yoshino_? She grudgingly noted that the girl was incredibly beautiful. Hazel eyes, straight brown hair, excellent figure and perfectly applied makeup. _She's standing too close,_ she irately observed. _Could she be?_

 _No way._

"What do you mean you don't know Yoshino Nohara?" Misa exclaimed, sitting in a quiet cafeteria the next day. "She's like one of the hottest girls in campus."

That didn't quell her misery at all. "Oh", she piped, moodily sipping her coffee. The heat felt good and comforting on her raw, itchy throat, ailing from her attempt at cleaning, but did nothing to soothe her raw, aching heart, all swirling worry and jealousy and sadness.

"So?" Rhiannon raised an eyebrow. "There are things that matter more than just how a person looks."

"Uh, yeah", Misa quipped, checking her smartphone, "maybe for you."

Sachiko sighed. Her two closest friends didn't exactly see eye to eye on most matters.

"It takes a particular kind of shallowness to 'rate' a person solely by appearance", Rhiannon declared hotly.

"Who said anything about 'rating people'?" Misa said absently, not raising to the bait, typing furiously as she spoke. "I'm just saying when a guy sees a girl, the first thing he notices is how good she looks."

"What about goodness of heart, or intelligence?" Rhiannon crossed her hands.

"Don't be such a romantic, Rhiannon", Misa waved her hand dismissively, "Maybe all that matters in sappy love-stories, but in the real world, looks, sociability, and popularity trumps everything. And more often than not, all these three mean the same thing."

"How about you both save this little debate for another day?" Sachiko said grumpily over her coffee, the itch in her throat seeming like insult over injury.

"Oh, Sachiko. I'm sorry sweetie", Misa turned off her phone and gently touched her shoulder, "I want to tell you that they're just friends and maybe there's nothing going on, but you know how these things work." Sachiko nodded, swallowing over the lump forming in her throat . She did know, she had learned the hard way. "I'm not saying that they are romantically involved or anything; hell, she may even have a boyfriend. But what I'm saying is..." Misa closed her eyes and sighed, as if to soften the blow, "Your sixth-sense is often right when it comes to guys you have feelings for."

"Mmm", she said quietly into her coffee, feeling the sting of tears pricking her eyes.

"So be strong", Misa was saying, "Rhiannon and I are there for you, no matter what. Right, Rhiannon?"

"Of course", Rhiannon said solemnly. "Life is too short to cry over boys who don't care. Besides", she asserted, "you are too good for that overgrown sack of potatoes, Sachiko."

"Hey", she said weakly, a smile creeping into her voice.

"True that", Misa agreed. "I know some people find him hot, but personally, I think you could do better."

"Really?" Sachiko said incredulously. "You were the one drooling all over him when we joined the university."

"Before I moved onto, ah, greener pastures."

"So maybe he's put on a little weight", Sachiko sincerely defended the object of her affections, "but he's tall, so it's not really that evident. Besides, I'd love him even if he put on, like a thousand pounds."

"Did you just use the 'l' word?" Misa grinned. "Aw, sweetie", she patted her on the head.

"Take those rose-colored glasses off, Sachiko", Rhiannon was saying, stirring her cafe mocha. "And you'll see..."

"Yup", Misa acknowledged, "Take those off. Taking things off usually help. Hey by the way, how big do you think his junk is?" Sachiko almost choked on her coffee.

"Misa!"

" _What_?" Misa said innocently, taking a sip from her iced frappe, "You said it yourself that he's tall. And his feet are hu...ge."

"I don't think _feet_ have any connection to virility", Rhiannon opined. "Only inspection will determine the length of his genitalia with any degree of accuracy."

"Hmm, fair enough", Misa said, "D'you think you could sneak a peek and tell us, Sachiko?" She grinned, waggling her eyebrows.

"You guys!" Sachiko cried, beet red in embarrassment, burying her face in her hands.

" _What?_ Aren't you curious if he's good at the old in-out?"

"Incorrect assumption", Rhiannon said, frowning as she palmed a dollop of handrub ,"Virility isn't associated with the size of one's-"

"Yeah, but with it comes confidence, and that makes _all_ the difference", Misa grinned.

"Are we seriously discussing this in a cafeteria?"

"Joie de vivre, Sachiko", Misa stated piously, "And if you are going to tell me you haven't even thought once about what's in his pants, I'll tell you that you're sitting in a throne of lies."

"Of course I have thought of him that way", Sachiko muttered, her cheeks tinged a faint pink, "I'm human, after all. With hormones and feelings and stuff."

"Good girl. I always knew you were raised right", Misa said approvingly.

"Yeah, suuure", she rolled her eyes, warming up a little to their banter. If it's bad news, let it come, she thought. At least she'll be prepared this time.

* * *

The bad news came exactly three days later in the form of a whispered rumor. It turned out Misa was right: her damned sixth sense was smack dab on point with this one.

Sachiko had spent the day in a haze, sitting through lectures, unnoticing of the passage of time, and mechanically returned to her apartment where she threw herself into her chores, cleaning through the place like a whirlwind.

"I'm sorry Sachiko", said Rhiannon through the phone, "Who wants that arse anyway?" Misa had called earlier, inviting her to go clubbing with her, saying, it'll take your mind off things. But she knew taking her mind 'off' things was just putting a temporary band-aid. Sooner or later it was going to fall off, and she would be drowning breathlessly in all the sorrow she didn't know what to do with.

"Mmhmm", she droned despondently, words dammed by the tightness in her throat. She had thought that she could manage herself better this time around- she was no stranger to heartaches after all- but it seemed the intermediary period of aching loneliness and the debilitating sense of loss wasn't optional.

"Would you like me to come over?"

"No", her voice sounded dull and hollow. "Not today, at least."

"Very well", Rhiannon said, "I just want you to know, I think you're a good person and you deserve a lot better."

"Thanks Rhi", she tried to smile, but all her hopes and happiness had disappeared into the bottomless pits of her sorrow. "I'll call you back tomorrow."

"Good night Sachiko", said Rhiannon, choosing to ignore her nickname.

"Goodnight Rhi."

Sachiko hung up and collapsed onto the bed, blankly staring at the wall, not a tear in her eye.

 _Oh but they're on their way,_ Sachiko stood up and went to the window, gazing solemnly at the city that sprawled below, lit by the lights of a million lamps, its ever-present buzz reminding her of how life went on.

 _Come on,_ she told herself, _you knew this was going to end badly- better sooner than later._

 _Sure,_ her wounded psyche said thornily. Sachiko sighed dolefully into the night air. She hadn't even expected anything, but she was still left disappointed.

"That's a lie" _,_ she murmured softly to herself. If she hadn't expected anything, she wouldn't have felt such aching sorrow. If she hadn't expected anything, she could have put a brave face on and laughed about it with her friends. _But it was only a crush,_ she reminded herself. At least that's what she had intended to keep it as. No, not a crush, she corrected, this was something more- something she had never felt before, something more tender and deeply irresistible than any of her previous one sided-love affairs, more powerful than the mockery of a relationship she had been in ages ago.

This too would pass, she assured her defiant self. She was strong and tenacious- resilience was the lesson she had learned from previous disappointments.

 _I really liked him,_ Tears pricked her eyes, an aching pit opened in her chest. Why would she miss him so much when he didn't even know she existed? She should learn to be more like Misa- dating, having fun, not wasting time pining. If she liked someone, she'd boldly go and tell them and more often than not, she had her feelings reciprocated. And if they were not, _oh well_ , she'd barely bat an eyelash, moving on to the next guy faster than one could say 'rebound'.

But _noooo_ , she didn't have crushes that were just simple crushes- she was so old- fashioned, taking things too seriously for her own good.

A meow which sounded more like a demand woke her from her despairing thoughts. Brushing tears from the corner of her eyes, she turned to the cat that had stealthily slipped next to her elbow on the windowsill.

"Hungry already?" She asked it, gently stroking its whiskers. The tabby produced a hiss that asked her, not so nicely, to remove her offending appendages from his person.

She placed the bowl, this time with two pieces of dried fish, on the table. It was unhygienic, really, but what did it matter? Grief was making her generous, she observed. She even gave the grey feline another piece of fish as an after-dinner hors d'oeuvre and gently petted its head as it ate. It licked its chops when it finished, and with nary a look at her, leapt down the table and vanished out the window.

And that opened the floodgates.

"You stupid cat!" She yelled at the top of her voice, "Come back here and let me love you!" She sounded like a crazy person, but who cared? What was the point of living such a dull, loveless life? She cradled her head in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably as the phrase 'not even a cat' ran through her mind, not even caring about the shouts urging her to shut the hell up that came from the adjacent apartment.

"This is stupid", she said between sobs, "I am stupid." Why should she be crying anyway? It was not like she had broken up with him, and a part of her always knew that her stupid, silly feelings would never be reciprocated by someone who had better options. She hadn't even made the cut to be an option. There was no logical reason to cry, really, but she couldn't stop the tears as they dampened the smooth wood of her dining table.

She woke up some time later with a stuffed nose and a headache, exhausted from all the crying, surprised at having fallen asleep in the first place. _Not again,_ she groaned as she felt the aching void open up in her chest. _Quickly_. She had to move before her grief reduced her to an incapacitated lump of flesh that could only stare at a wall and cry. It wasn't for nothing that she had prepared herself. She dragged herself to the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, closing her fingers around the long neck of the glass bottle. It was pathetic and unhealthy, and more like her metaphorical band-aid that would soon fall off, but there really was nothing to it. She had to do what she had to do to tide over the limbo period, even if it meant she had to spend most of it in a drunken haze.

She took a swig of the whisky directly from the bottle, more fire than liquid as it burned down her throat, against the ache in her heart, settling down as a comforting, obliviating warmth in her stomach. When she had set out with an exuberant Misa and a disapproving Rhiannon to purchase a bottle two days ago, she really didn't think she would be using it. But apparently she had underestimated her ability of turning into a pathetic mess. A warning bell in the currently non-dominant, sensible part of her brain reminded her that she had further use of her esophagus and therefore not to burn a hole in it, that made her stumble to grab a glass and some soda on her way out. She plopped down at the table and started gulping down drink after drink. She had always stomached liquor well, but today she was really testing her limits. At the fourth drink she tipped over, cheek against the table, limbs lax and face flushed. Maybe she should have stopped to savor the alcohol and should not have tipped drinks back one after the other.

"Boo", she said drunkenly. _Four drinks? Issat all ya got?_ A voice that sounded like Misa's said in her head. _Give her a break please,_ Rhiannon's voice chided, _She's depressed. Also she's had nothing to eat._

 _"_ Both of you should just shuddap", she said flippantly. "And get outta my head." Distantly, her mind told her Misa was somewhere in a club batting her lashes at strangers and Rhiannon was at home, doing...whatever she was doing.

 _Look at me, getting boozed up alone in my apartment. How sad am I?_ Giddily she lifted her head, feeling the world spin around her, cheeks flushed, an idea sparking in the dark recesses of her drunken, hazy mind. The day before yesterday she had brought a couple of geraniums in the campus garden to full bloom, in accordance with the wishes of the thrilled gardener.

"I'm a god", she hiccuped, "Why can't I make my own wish come true?" She burped. _I feel so holy._

"I wish Soichiro loved meeee", she drawled. There was no clink, no weight around her arms, no golden shackles. She stretched out her hands and stared at her unshackled wrists for a moment.

There was a moment of crushing disappointment. Laughter bubbled in her lips, and she erupted into a fit of sudden, helpless giggles, tears streaming down her face. The sight of her unshackled wrists was suddenly the funniest thing in the world. Of course, she supposed giddily, why did she think that would happen? Why should _she_ get a break? It was hilarious. Soichiro. Loving her. She shrieked with laughter, clutching her stomach. Really, she was a riot. In the back of her mind Sachiko quietly noted she was acting insane. Then again, she reasoned, she could be as insane as she wanted in the privacy of her own apartment. Sanity was overrated anyway. She spotted something white in the periphery of her vision. _Hallucination? S_ he wondered tipsily.

"You suuuure look _damn fine_ for something my mind made up", she hiccuped to the vision of an irritated demon lord, bursting into another fit of teary, senseless laughter.

* * *

 _ **How did I write so much? I was actually worried that I wouldn't even be able to cough up three thousand words for this, and now we have six thousand! :D**_

 _ **So this chappie was mainly a filler, but hopefully you guys liked it. I really enjoyed writing it, even though all that happened here is Sachiko being crazy and getting drunk as a skunk.**_

 _ **Review if you want more!**_


	6. Of Kidnapping and Debts

**_Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing her characters for my own nefarious purposes._**

 ** _...Blessed..._**

* * *

 ** _...Of Kidnapping and Debts..._**

 _"Only he who attempts the absurd is capable of achieving the impossible."_  
 ** _— Miguel de Unamuno_**

 _ **...**_

Sesshomaru was not amused.

The human girl gazed dumbly at him for a moment and then lifted the bottle of liquor, staring quizzically at it. Raising herself up on unsteady legs, she tumbled her way towards him in a drunken stumble, reeking of alcohol, almost tripping over her own feet.

With a surprisingly pointy finger, she poked at his armor.

"Wow", she mouthed with a dopey smile, "Realistic."

 _Poke. Poke. Poke._

"Get dressed", he instructed her, taking in her less than modest attire. She gazed at him with wide, woozy eyes, her finger resting on his cuirass.

"You can - _hic-_ talk…?"

Growling deeply in annoyance, he reminded himself that he was pressed for time and incapacitating her would only prove contrary to his objectives.

Sesshomaru had plunged into the well without a second thought, ready to stare down mortal peril in the eye if he had to, emerging from the well into a small dark room where the air smelled faintly of poison. Sheathing the Bakusaiga, he had stepped out of the room into the cold night, the stench in the air hitting him harder. An aura of purity, too weak to even register as a bother, brushed against his youki which led him to deduce that he was in the shrine. Not detecting any threat of danger, he had taken to the skies, his nose adjusting to the nauseating scents that hung in the air which grew stronger as he proceeded.

It was wondrous: the world beyond the well with its multitudes of curious contraptions he could not conceive, all the lights and sounds and scents. Above him a gigantic metal fish passed, carrying humans in its belly, cutting through the polluted air leaving a sharp whistling noise in its wake. Below, through the winding, snakelike roads that the meshed the sprawling city like latticework, horseless metal carts ran in orderly chaos. Buildings of great heights kissed the skies, lit by the light of a million windows. Above the chaotic excesses of the city spanned a cloud of dirt and poison, much like miasma, slowly corroding everything it touched.

It appeared that this world was inhabited almost exclusively by humans- millions of them. And among them, he had to find one- one who possessed remarkable abilities of healing, unlike anything he had ever seen.

Sesshomaru was positive she was here: he had seen her jump in the well, he had seen the magic that engulfed her and made her disappear in a flash of blue light. The demon lord had floated above the city, combing it for the scent and aura of his target, underneath the clamor of millions upon millions of other, maddeningly distracting senses, and finally, shooting into an open window in a high building from whence he could pick up her aura.

Suffice to say, things weren't going as smoothly as he had planned.

"I got _wasted_ ", she said speculatively, "and passed out. And now I'm _dreamin'."_ She teetered unsteadily on her legs. " _Yup_ ", 'm dreamin'. That's gotta be it." She punctuated this astounding revelation with a drunken hiccup and stared accusingly at him.

"Well then don' just stand there, _do_ something!" She ordered, swaying tipsily before collapsing onto his armor. Sesshomaru pushed her back by the shoulders before she defiled the lacquered surface of his breastplate.

"Your assistance is required", he demanded imperiously.

"My _what_ _?_ " She seemed to focus for a moment. Then, to his intense vexation, she began laugh. It wasn't the elegant laugh of a well bred, sophisticated lady either, but a crude, mannish guffaw, punctuated with porcine snorts that were most obnoxious. With a trembling finger, she brushed away a tear that had escaped her eye. " _Oh Gawdd_ ", she snorted, and then leaning in, whispered conspiratorially, " _Wanna make out?_ "

* * *

If Sachiko had known this was how the night was going to turn out, she would have done a couple of things differently.

Firstly, she would not have touched a drop of alcohol, heartbroken or not. Second, she would have bundled herself up in warmer clothes, and last but not the least, she would have made sure to stay the hell away from skirts and would have donned something that was less fluttery.

Unblessed with powers of precognition, she had allowed herself to get boozed up in a ratty old dress that barely brushed her knees.

"Somebody help _meeee_!"

She screamed into the cool night air as it hit her full force in the face, tucked under the steel arm of a very strong, very inconsiderate demon zooming at breakneck speed through the air, said arm looped around her waist the only thing keeping her from plummeting to her demise. He had tried to bind her in the fur pelt but somehow she kept squirming out of its coils, much to his consternation.

"Let go of me you jerkkkkk!" She contradicted this rather poor choice of wording by digging into his armor as deep as she could with her blunt, bitten down nails, frightened to near death as she loomed three hundred, four hundred feet above ground. By now she had surmised that the predicament she found herself in was in fact real. She was being kidnapped. _Kidnapped!_ The deduction made her howl, with renewed fervor, into the night.

The city sprawled, beautifully lit by a million lights, beneath her legs twisting wildly in the air- it took a massive deal of conscious effort to keep them from wrapping themselves indecently around his torso. The skirt of the dress fluttered around her legs, her backside a little too ventilated for her liking. The wind was hitting her face full force, the chill nipping at her nose and throat. Her body quivered from the shock of the landing and the recoil of the takeoff. The rocking motion and the pressure in her stomach weren't helping any with the alcohol-induced nausea. The landings Her stomach roiled uncomfortably, it's meager contents forcing their way up through her flaccid food pipe, burning the back of her throat. She had never been so uncomfortable in her life.

 _I'm going to vomit,_ she realized with a stab of mortification, _Oh God._

Sesshomaru crinkled his nose in distaste as the human expelled the contents of her gut, spraying most of it as a fine mist over the unsuspecting city. However, he had more pressing concerns than the girl's ungraciousness. For one thing the girl was sober enough to his liking, and for the other, he was running out of time.

Sesshomaru leapt sharply down, causing the girl to shriek in terror due to the sudden drop and throw her hands around him, clawing for purchase in his armor as her skirt turned outward indecently, leaving very little to the imagination. He let the human down at the top of the flight of stairs leading to the shrine for a moment of reprieve. She collapsed in a heap onto the ground, panting heavily, and seemed to be in danger of losing consciousness.

"No", he commanded sternly, pulling her to her feet. Her eyes seemed to focus again and she gazed at him in panicked disbelief before squirming to get away. Comprehending that she wouldn't cooperate, he pulled her back and picked her up, zooming to the mini-shrine in the space of a blink and depositing her in the well.

"No! " she cried as the blue glow enveloped her, hands flailing in the air desperate for purchase.

Sachiko's feet hit solid ground. Despairingly she pulled herself up by the vines that grew into the well, the chill of the night air making her shiver, the cold wind and adrenaline having washed out most of the alcohol from her system. Spitting out acid, she shuddered, barely having a moment to catch her breath before the daiyoukai materialized before her. Sachiko had had enough.

"Stop it!" She demanded, eyes narrowed with fury. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I require your powers of healing", he stated impassively. Sachiko stared at him like he had gone mad.

"I don't _have_ any powers of healing!" She cried incredulously.

The demon lord narrowed his eyes. "You lie", he accused in a hushed whisper, before grabbing her and flying out the well under the light of a gibbous moon, unheeding of her protests. The forest zoomed past beneath them in the blink of an eye and suddenly they were at the shack of Kaede. Another sharp downward leap where Sachiko struggled to cover herself and they were on the ground, much to the surprise of Inuyasha and Miroku who were standing outside the hut. Why must these people always witness her when she was at her worst? She groaned as she sank to the ground, trying to wipe the vomit off her chin while throwing back her windswept hair. She still reeked of alcohol, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"Sesshomaru-sama!" Jaken cried, "You are back!"

"It's Sachiko!" Shippou exclaimed from the monk's shoulder, crinkling his nose. "You smell like _sake!_ "

"Sachiko-sama?" Miroku said, "What are you doing here?"

"Ask that _jerk!_ " Sachiko cried in anger, pointing at the demon. "He just _dragged_ me from my apartment without an explanation and-"

"You", the demon lord stated, his voice hard, "were in no state to comprehend an explanation even if I were to give you one."

"That doesn't mean you get to manhandle me you-!" She stopped mid- tirade, suddenly realizing the state of her attire. With a small muffled shriek of feminine indignation, she hastily rearranged her skimpy dress to cover herself the best she could.

"Sachiko- san? I thought I heard your voice", A frazzled Kagome said from the doorway, lifting the reed flap with her forearm. "Sesshomaru- sama went to get _you_?"

In the futon on the earthen floor of the shack was Rin, skin flushed, muttering incoherently. Kaede and Sango sat on either side of her, ashen-faced.

"What happened?" She asked, feeling for her pulse, finding it fluttering feebly under her searching fingers. Her skin was hot and dry to touch. Occasionally she frowned and mumbled, as if having nightmares.

"We found her in the forest looking...disoriented", Kagome said, "It looked like she had eaten nightshade- the poisonous one, but none of our usual remedies would work. We even called for healers, but it was of no use." Gently probing the little girl's eyelid open, Sachiko tried to examine her eyes in firelight as best as she could.

"It does seem like nightshade", She said, noting the dilated pupils, "But I don't really know what I can do here. Ideally we should get her stomach pumped and give her the antidote. Maybe we could take her to a hospital in my world and..."

"Sachiko- san, I do not think Rin is going to pass through the well", said Kaede. "It would only be a waste of time to try- time we do not have."

"T-then", she muttered, trying to keep calm, the expectant gazes of the inhabitants of the hut unnerving her, "What should we do?"

"Perhaps ye could try healing her?" Kaede ventured. Sachiko cast a glance at her hands- no chains.

"What? No", She protested, "I don't know why you all keep going on about healing powers, but this is this kid's life we are talking about- this is no time to _try_ things! Even if I were do something, I would need medicines that's only available in my world. That's why Kaede- san, I should go back to my world with Rin and- "

"Woman", Sesshomaru finally spoke, his citrine eyes boring down on hers. "You are not going anywhere."

"Sesshomaru", she said desperately, "I know you want to save her, but there's nothing I can-" In a smooth movement, he unsheathed Bakusaiga, pointing it right between her eyes. Her breath caught in her chest.

"You misunderstand." His gaze alone could have struck her down. "Heal her, or you die."

"Sesshomaru- sama!" She heard Kagome reprimand him through the blood thundering in her ears. Sango was saying something, possibly in an effort to pacify the rising tension. Breathlessly, she shuffled away from the sword. What was she going to do? All she had ever done using her powers was making plants bloom. But this was a person- a real person who would die without medical intervention. With a trembling hand, she checked the girl's pulse again. It was starting to come down, her breaths starting to become strained. _Respiratory paralysis,_ a voice said in her head, dousing her spine with ice.

 _Now what?_ She cast about desperately. She knew that the demon, Sesshomaru, was no stranger to murder. _Is he_... _really going to kill me?_ She realized, her heart in her throat, her mind a blank slate.

"Sachiko- sama", Kaede touched her freezing hands. "Please listen to me." Her whole body felt like lead as she turned around to face the old priestess, eyes wide in fright. "Sesshomaru- sama wouldn't have brought ye here unless he was sure of your abilities", said Kaede, "Neither would the well have let ye pass, if you had nothing to do here."

"What are you saying?" She breathed.

"Sachiko-sama", the old priestess said, "I implore you to try. You and I both know of your powers- please, try something. Time is running out for the child."

 _You ask me to do something, but what?_ She looked at the child, slowly drifting away, _I want to save you too, but what do I do?_ She gently held her hot, flushed hand, closing her eyes. _Haruo,_ she pleaded despairingly, _If you can hear me, please help._

 _"Finally." His voice made her open her eyes. She was in the forest, kneeling on the grass in front of a large magnolia tree._

 _"We meet again, Sachiko."_

 _"Help!" She bolted up. "Rin is dying and Sesshomaru will kill me unless-!"_

 _"I know", he said softly, cutting her off. "But do you really want to save that child?"_

 _"Of course!" She mouthed in indignation. "I am a med student and all… it's kind of my duty to help people. Not to mention the big- ass sword that guy just threatened me with."_

 _"So you want to salvage her life because you fear persecution? Or is it an obligation?"_

 _"No", she breathed. "I mean, I am scared that he's going to kill me..."_

 _Haruo shrugged. "He will, should you fail."_

 _"Wha-?"_

 _"And cruelly too!"_

 _"You- you're not helping."_

 _"Sorry, please continue." Haruo said smoothly, "Why do you want to save her?"_

 _"Because...", she said, "Because it is the right thing to do, isn't it?" Haruo smiled softly, giving her an impression that he had expected her to give him such an answer._

 _"I see", he said thoughtfully, "Do you know, Sachiko? A God's will is absolute: we are not bound by the laws of karma. That means, our actions-good or bad-have no retribution in the karmic plane."_

 _"But I'm not a God", she said, despite not really understanding, "I am human. Half the time I just wing it- I have limitations."_

 _Haruo nodded approvingly._ _"Your very awareness of that fact indicate how suited you are to be my vessel", he said, "As long as you have my powers you are a God, and your actions will be treated as that of one."_

 _"But why are you telling me this?" She asked, "I just want to know if I can heal Rin. And how to, because though they keep asking me to save her, not one of them has made a heartfelt wish. So their souls don't_ want _me to save her?"_

 _"Souls are wise, Sachiko. Unlike the mind vexed with the concepts of right and wrong, a soul remains uncorrupted, and thus can see far beyond what the mind can :unless the mind is so far gone that the soul suffers as well."_

 _"I'm pretty sure you're telling me something really wise here", she said urgently, "but I really don't understand."_

 _"Very well", he said with a smile, "Let me get back to your worries. Yes, you can heal her, if that's what you want. It is in your power to do so."_

 _"Great!" She cheered. "How?"_

 _"Just will it, and it will come to fruition."_

 _"Wait, that's all I need to do?" She spoke dubiously, feeling herself fade, "Haruo?"_

 _"Of course, Sachiko." He was saying, "Remember, you are a God, after all."_

"Ah, Sachiko-sama", Kaede was shaking her. Gasping, she opened her eyes.

"How long was I asleep?" She asked breathlessly. She noticed that she was still sitting upright.

"Perhaps a second", the old priestess blinked, "I feared ye might have fallen unconscious. Are ye alright?"

"Mmm, yeah." She scooted closer to Rin and gently placed her hands on the girl's forehead . "I think I'll try healing her now." She couldn't make any promises, but she was going to try. She gazed at Sesshomaru through lowered lashes. He seemed to just stand there, sword at the ready, gazing intently at her. Sachiko swallowed thickly. _Nope, bad idea looking there._ She closed her eyes hastily and took a deep, calming breath.

 _Please help. Help this little girl who used to be so happy and full of life._

Sesshomaru watched the girl close her eyes, a determined look on her face. He thought back to the tree that she had revived the day he had met her in the forest. He had passed that way some days later: the tree was dying again, but around it- where her blood had fallen- new life had burst forth- moss and grass and wildflowers growing thickly around the dying tree. What did that mean, he wondered. Even if she saved Rin, that she would die again soon? No, that could not be it. It seemed the girl could only heal, not revive. There must have been some fading life in that tree that the girl brought out with her powers. Therefore, at the very least, she could buy Rin some time wherein he could search for a more knowledgeable and competent healer.

Conjectures, all of it, but Rin was running out of time and all the healers he had...mildly coerced seemed nothing but baffled at her condition, all their poultices and concoctions useless against the ailment. He had allowed the incompetent idiots to leave with their lives only because he was hard-pressed for time. As the last resort, he had jumped into the well to fetch the girl with mysterious powers he had chanced to meet.

The mask that was his face never once betrayed the growing panic that rose in his heart. What if she failed, what then? Will Rin die? How foolish he was, tying his fate to something so fragile, so painfully evanescent. How long was he going to keep playing this game of resurrection?

The demon lord sharply brought his senses back to the present. This was no time for regret. There was a child, _his_ child, dying in front of him. If the strange girl from beyond the well failed, he would have to be fully present to look for other ways to sustain Rin's life, even if he had done everything short of siphoning his own life into the child.

But she wouldn't fail, the demon lord's mind intuited as his nose picked up the faint stirrings of herbal scents in the air. He wondered why he had such faith in her abilities when she herself seemed to have none just moments ago. At any rate, she had no choice but succeed if she valued her life. He watched her frown in concentration. And then her aura spiked.

A green burst of radiance emanated from her hands which moved as a wave through Rin's body, illuminating it briefly, suffusing the air with an earthy, herbal scent. Kagome and Sango sat back in surprise. Kaede was chanting something under her breath, hands folded in prayer. Inuyasha and Miroku peeked through the reed flap, surprise coloring their faces. Sesshomaru watched intently as the green glow brightened, enveloping both her and Rin.

Sachiko felt her energy connecting with Rin's dying one. She could intimately feel the pulse of her life- her lungs, her heart, her stomach, the poison in the deadly nightshade berries she had ingested, blocking her nerves. She willed the poison to diffuse away from her muscles, channeling it for it to pass through her body harmless. Already her breathing was deeper and more even. She felt the little girl's heart pick up, pumping strong and healthy, coursing nourishing blood through the arteries. She couldn't believe it –she had _healed_ someone.

 _No!_ Something screamed.

 _What?_ Sachiko frowned. _Rin?_

 _No. No! Can't…Please… No more! No more!_

Spine stiffening, Sachiko listened to the frantic, desperate screaming. Suddenly the screams were inside her head.

 _No more! No more!_ The pitiable voice shrieked. Then the voice fractured into a thousand screams, ricocheting in her skull, through her bones, freezing her marrow, spreading icy fingers over her heart…

Sachiko gasped and let go of the child, a hand over her furiously beating heart.

"Sachiko-san!" Kagome cried. Sango made a noise of surprise.

"Are ye alright?" Kaede asked, her voice shaking.

"Yeah", she breathed, horrified, looking at Rin. "What about…?"

Sesshomaru was kneeling next to her, gazing at the child with a tenderness that she didn't expect to see in his cold eyes.

"Sesshomaru- sama…", Rin breathed, a small, contented smile on her face.

"Rin…How are ye feeling child?" Kaede gasped in amazement.

"I am fine, Kaede-sama", she said in a thin voice, " Those berries, I ate…"

"Hush, Rin", Kaede said, "Rest now." The old priestess gave her a smile and hobbled out of the hut, followed by Sango. Sachiko looked at the smiling child, her mind racing. What was that horrible voice she just heard? It sounded like it was in unbearable pain.

"Sachiko-san", Kagome said softly, "Let's step out for a bit, shall we?"

Sachiko nodded and stood up, pulling the white haori she had been given closer to herself. She chanced a look at the impassive demon lord, sitting stiff-backed beside the child, not sparing her a glance, and followed Kagome out of the hut and into the cool night. The others were near a tree, perhaps twenty feet away.

"Rin knew nightshade was poisonous; I mean, Kaede-san must have taught her-But then, why did she...?" Kagome trailed off, then gazed back at her, smiling."That was amazing Sachiko- san. I have never seen someone with healing powers at work before."

"I didn't know", she replied. "I swear, that was the first time I ever did something like that."

"It was wondrous! Magnificent!" A voice said. Sachiko looked around. Who was that? "The moment I chanced to spot your aura I knew there was something special about you!"

"Sachiko-san", Kagome said, something jumping in her upturned palm, "Meet Myouga jii-chan."

Sachiko looked at her palm and saw a flea wearing a kimono. _Oh dear God. A demon_ flea _?_

"Um, nice to meet you, I'm Sachiko." _A flea. I'm introducing myself to a flea._ "Were you in the hut the whole time?"

"Yeah", Kagome said flippantly. "He was hiding from Sesshomaru because he had no idea what to do about Rin."

"Kagome-sama!" The flea cried. "You wound me. You know very well that I was meditating in the seclusion of your collar, engaged in deep contemplation about little Rin's ailment!"

"Yeah, judging from all that snoring you did, I am pretty sure you were doing some serious contemplation. In your dreams!"

"Kagome- sama, there was nothing I could have done!" The flea snapped. Sachiko wondered how something so small could have such a loud voice. "Besides, Sesshomaru-sama should know when to let go! That girl is human- how long does he intend to prolong her life? Forever?" Myouga suddenly startled, seeming to understand the gravity of what he had just said, and hopped onto Kagome's shoulder, looking fearfully at the hut where Sesshomaru was. After some uneventful seconds, he hopped back to Kagome's hand.

"Phew, I think we were far enough", He said, "or I'd be dead by now! Now, Sachiko- sama", said the old flea, "Care to tell us why your aura is that of a god?"

* * *

"So this god just gave you his powers and you do not know why?" Miroku asked her thoughtfully.

"Yeah, he said something about my actions having no retribution in the karmic-plane."

"Sachiko-sama!" Miroku gazed at her in wonderment. "You are exempted from Karma?!"

"That's…a good thing?"

"It means for whatever time you are a god, your actions will not have repercussions." At the sight of the blank faces of everyone except Kaede, Miroku cleared his throat. "Let me explain", he said, "The physical universe operates within a cycle of Karma- that is, every action, good or bad, will have its repercussions. Therefore, even the smallest action you perform carries with it a certain amount of Karmic debt. The Karmic debt accumulates,which is to be paid over several lifetimes. Only when you pay all your Karmic debt off will you attain Nirvana."

"Oh", Sachiko said."So what you are saying is…if we do something bad, we will have to do something equally good to clear out the Karmic debt?"

"Yes, exactly." Miroku confirmed.

"Keh", Inuyasha scoffed from a branch of the tree. "So what if someone only does good in his lifetime? Like a saint?" Miroku shook his head.

"It is not that simple my friend", he said, "because there isn't any action purely good or purely bad. Even if you do something that is inherently seen as good, it might set off a chain of events which may culminate in something that causes pain and suffering. Likewise, an event which may look evil to a person might be, in the end, another person's salvation. For example, if I catch a fish and give it to a starving child, not only will I get good karma because of the child's gratitude, I will also obtain bad karma because I took the life of the fish."

"I see", Sango said, "So attaining Nirvana is a very arduous task. That's why it spans over many lifetimes."

"Exactly, my dear Sango. The enlightened ones know this, and therefore try to spend their time in prayer and meditation so that their karma is more good than bad. Because while it is very easy to attain bad karmic debt, to negate it with the good, it is difficult. That is why a good action usually requires conscious effort from our part, while we do bad deeds naturally, sometimes even without our knowledge. Even just by existing on earth doing nothing else, we somehow accumulate bad Karma, according to some scrolls." He leveled his indigo gaze at Sachiko.

"To be honest, a reprieve, however small it might be from the circle of Karma is a great honor. Sachiko-sama, your previous life must have been one of great virtue." Sachiko didn't know what to say to that.

"I see", she said finally. If her previous life was one of goodness, she sure wasn't living up to the mark with this one- was she really someone who deserved this exemption?

"Perhaps I should read up about human-gods. I must confess- it isn't an area where my knowledge runs deep." Miroku said.

"Feh! Karma whatever", Jaken scoffed, "You humans fuss over the strangest things."

"Oh so you were here, Jaken", Shippou said, "We almost forgot about you."

"How dare you?" Jaken spluttered, "Disrespecting me, the loyal servant of Sesshomaru-sama is like disrespecting the lord himself!"

"Yeah give it a rest you toad, nobody's buyin' it", Inuyasha said from his perch on the tree. Jaken huffed and averted his face, muttering something darkly about stupid foxes and hanyous.

"Sachiko-sama!" The old flea cried from Sango's shoulder.

"Yes?"

"So you really are a god?"

"It…seems so."

"Excellent! I shall not miss this chance!" Sachiko felt a prick on her cheek. To her horror the old flea was perched there, sucking her blood with gusto and enlarging horrifically. Sachiko couldn't really control her hand when it flew to her cheek, flattening the flea.

"Worth it", the flea squeaked as its flattened body gently floated down to the ground.

"Sorry!" Sachiko said awkwardly.

"It's alright, he'll bounce back soon", Sango consoled her.

"That was heavenly", the flea muttered tightly from the grass, still flattened.

"Let's head back", Inuyasha said, leaping off the tree, "Sesshomaru's gone already."

 _He_ _left_? Sachiko huffed incredulously. After kidnapping her and making her puke all over Tokyo whilst her underwear was on public display, after almost giving her whiplash injury, after threatening to murder her, after _everything_ he just up and left? With not even an apology, much less a 'thank you'?

"He sure was in a hurry", Sachiko said acidly.

"Sachiko-san, what's the matter?" Kagome asked.

"Just thinking of the _ingratitude_ of some demons", she muttered.

"Lord Sesshomaru is, ah-" Kaede ventured.

"A prick. Yeah", Inuyasha completed, tucking his arms into the sleeves of his haori. "Atleast you got to puke on him and live to tell the tale."

"You _what?!"_ Jaken screeched.

" _Inuyasha!_ " Kagome scolded, "What have we talked about running your mouth in public?"

" _What_? I could smell it from the well!"

 _Heightened sense of olfaction, neat._ Mortified and blushing beet red, she tried to ignore the others trying to keep straight faces and not burst into laughter.

* * *

"Hey Sesshomaru!"

Sesshomaru irately stared down at the woman from the branch of the tree he was sitting on. She was wearing the garb of a priestess and glaring up at him with her jade green eyes, damp hair unbound. Around them, butterflies fluttered and cicadas chirped in the mid-morning heat.

"Know your place, human", he said imperiously, irked at having been addressed so familiarly.

Sachiko huffed. How rude could a person get? Even if he were some sort of lord like what Jaken kept saying ? She had asked the kodama to locate him just for the pleasure of making something clear.

"What, you want me to bow down to you?" She challenged, crossing her arms.

"If you are intelligent enough to acknowledge your inferiority", he stated impassively.

"You're one to boast high status, when you won't even observe common courtesy." At the demon lord's narrowed eyes, she continued, "Not only did you kidnap me, but also threatened me with death. But even after that I did what you asked-"

"You did it _because_ I threatened you, not despite it", the daiyoukai corrected languorously. Sachiko blinked.

"That's what you think? That I saved her only because I was afraid? I mean I _was_ afraid that you'd kill me but..." At the snobbish raising of his elegant brow, Sachiko huffed again and decided to go on with her rehearsed speech."Anyway, that's not the point. The point is, I helped you, and I deserve gratitude. Especially after all that you put me through yesterday- I'll have you know, that was very uncomfortable being dragged around like that!"

"Oh?" The demon said smoothly, mocking her. Sachiko decided to ignore that.

"I mean", she crossed her arms, "I understand why you were in such a hurry- I would be afraid too, if it were my loved one..."

Afraid? _Loved-one_? Sesshomaru stared blankly at the girl. The human didn't seem to know what she was talking about, or for that that matter whom she was talking to. He chose to save Rin because that's what he wanted to at the moment. He wanted her to live, and wanted it strongly- it was as simple as that. He wasn't one to bother about the particulars of _why_ he wanted it. Emotions such as fear and love were just words to him- superficial and abstract. He only answered to himself, and he answered to himself well, he gave it everything he got. That was the crux of what he was- his being, his motivation, his actions...

It took him a while to register the girl was still talking and he had missed a great deal of what she had spoken- not that he regretted it very much.

"...Now, I know you are not going to thank me because that would be so _beneath_ you", she stated, "So I will just tell you this- you are in my debt, Sesshomaru."

The demon's eyes widened a fraction, then narrowed dangerously.

"Goodbye." She said pointedly, turning back with her nose in the air, oblivious to the angry shade of red that flashed in his eyes.

Feeling rather pleased with herself, she walked back to the clearing of the well, the long grass catching the billowing fabric of the hakama, making it difficult to proceed. The heat of the mid-morning sun bore down on her, making her sweat profusely through the thick fabric of the haori. _How do Kagome and Kaede manage to wear this all day?_ She wondered _._ Kaede had offered to go with her to the well but she politely declined, asking her to look after Rin instead.

The villagers had built a small shrine overlooking the fields in gratitude for the _kami_ that had blessed their crops. Kaede had shown it to her in the morning- a tiny _hokora_ with slanting roofs and small box like body, and in front of it rice and other offerings. Technically, even though the shrine was built because of her, the honorarium was really for Haruo. Smiling, she had prayed before it, thanking him for his help the last night. She wondered if the shrine would still be around in her time.

It was strange, knowing she was a God, knowing she had the power to heal people. She turned it over in her mind, wondering what that would mean for her if she returned. _Maybe I could heal people in the hospital?_ She wondered what the range of her new-found powers were. Rin had consumed a plant poison- and she had a suspicion that her powers had something to do exclusively with plants, since Haruo had said he was a forest God.

 _Does that mean it works only in poisoning?_ Sachiko smiled. _I should thank Sesshomaru,_ she thought, _I wouldn't have known I even had this power if it were not for him._

 _Though he did point a sword at me._ Sachiko shuddered at the memory. _I hope I never have to deal with him again, fingers crossed._

Sachiko almost fainted in fright when she turned the corner and saw the imposing figure of daiyoukai standing between the well and her.

 _Speak of the devil,_ her mind supplied tipsily. _What's he doing here?_ Everything she declared cheekily to the demon lord resounded with cringe-inducing clarity in her mind, making her examine the conversation in a new light. She had only wanted to make her point and leave- she really hadn't wanted to insult him or anything. And she really hadn't thought he would come after her.

 _Did he think I was insulting him?_ She swallowed over the lump in her throat. _Did I really tell him that he's indebted to me?_ A small part of her mind reminded her a little too late that his _debt_ could easily be nullified by ripping her head off her shoulders, which, she suspected, he could do with the flick of a single finger.

Belatedly, she noticed that her feet were still moving, inching her closer towards the demon. He kept his citrine gaze squarely on her, watching her wade clumsily through the grass, inadvertently reminding her of a puma crouching in the underbrush, waiting to ambush unsuspecting deer and elks.

 _Is he going to kill me? What am I going to do?_ She cast about frantically in her brain, which unfortunately, was busy preparing her obituary.

 _Here lies Sachiko: she sought out a demon and told him he owed her._

 _I am a god, I can't be killed._ Sachiko steadied her nerves and chanted in her mind. _I am a god, I can't be killed. I am a god, I can't be killed, but I can die and dying is unpleasant and then I will revive and then he will kill me again and I will live again and he'll kill me again and again and again and...wait, that wasn't what I was chanting…_

Sachiko squared her jaw and decided to safely keep her mind blank, and face what may come with a brave façade.

"Sesshomaru", she said, looking him in the eye. _Look at that! My voice didn't quiver or anything!_

The daiyoukai stood imperiously with his back to the well. "Are you _afraid_ , human?" She saw the corner of his mouth lift a little; or maybe that was just her, seeing things.

"I should be", she said squarely, "You have two swords and you are faster than me- if I were to run, I doubt I would make it far." _What?! Why am I telling him that? Am I seriously_ encouraging _him ?_

"And this fact escaped you when you, _ah_ , slandered me just before?" He asked smoothly.

"It wasn't an insult", she replied with a calm of which's origin was unknown to her, "It is a fact." _Ookay, why don't we back down a little there? Are his eyes, I don't know, starting to look…red? Why do I have a feeling that only happens when he's about to rip someone's throat out?_ The daiyoukai said nothing- he merely stared down at her with a scrutinizing gaze, a shade of red rising and ebbing in his eyes, as if she were nothing but a stain and he was contemplating whether or not to wipe her off the face of the earth. Unbeknownst to her, that wasn't far from the truth. _Wow,_ she pondered nervously, _he's got this whole intimidating staring thing down pat._

For the longest moment, they held each other's gaze. Sachiko's eyes were beginning to water- for some reason, she was under the foolish impression that if she won the starting contest, she would be allowed to go home in one piece. _Now why would_ _I think that?_ She wondered giddily, trying her best not to blink anyway.

"Hn", he snorted at the end of a very long, very unnerving moment. "Very well then. Name your price, human." He said finally.

"What?" She blinked, taken aback. Sachiko thought she heard the softest sigh escape the demon lord's lips.

"I _asked you "_ , he enunciated pointedly, "to name your price. The idea of being indebted to a human is deplorable."

Sachiko was experiencing a moment of severe perplexity.

 _Ohmygoshhetookitseriously!_ Her brain spat out when the moment had passed.

"What will you give me?" She blurted, unable to resist temptation, even though all she really wanted was a simple 'thank you'. _Well,_ she found herself thinking, _I didn't tell him to raise the stakes now, did I?_ Sesshomaru shot her a glare that she thought pierced her retina and stabbed right into her cerebral cortex.

"My honor demands of me to provide you with anything you ask for", the demon lord said tightly.

"Anything?" She parroted dumbly, watching the wary, almost imperceptible narrowing of his eyes. From the recesses of the scrambled mush that was her brain, a distant voice echoed:

 _Ask him for a kiss!_

Sachiko felt blindsided, as if she were walking down a flight of stairs in the dark and had suddenly missed a step. _Say what?_

 _Brain,_ she ventured, _weren't you just raising my blood pressure because you thought this guy, this admittedly handsome guy, was going to rip my heart out? And now you want me to ask him for a kiss? What are you trying to do to me brain? Have you no sense of self preservation?_ She absently licked her lips, trying not to think how long it has been since she was last kissed.

But a kiss would be really _really_ nice, some part of her psyche dreamily pondered, she really could have asked for worse. He can't refuse either, it noted diligently. In a way- a very twisted way- it could even be considered poetic justice: a demon who looks down on humans forced to kiss one. Of course he may decide to slaughter her after; so maybe it wouldn't be such a fair trade...

Great _._ Now all she could think of was making out with him, this _demon_ , this mythical creature with hair that rippled like silk in the wind...

 _Wait a minute, yesterday night..._ She had a vague memory of propositioning him drunkenly, making her cheeks tinge a light pink. She shifted uncomfortably. Did that really happen, or was that just some alcohol induced glitch in her memory? _Oh God,_ she mentally groaned, mortified. Had she really made a fool of herself in front of him?

 _Okay!_ She declared brightly to herself, _For the sake of my dignity, and also my sanity, let's pretend that it did not happen!_

 _"Human?"_ Sesshomaru enunciated, bored.

"Um, _y-yeah_?"

"I do not have all day."

"...Right."

The image of him gazing at Rin with a tender, paternal affection flashed through her mind. Despite herself, despite everything that happened, despite the death threats and the sword pointed at her face, a smile softened her eyes and gently lifted the corners of her mouth.

"I don't want anything", she said, jade eyes shining, "for now", she finished, her lips twisted in a mischievous smile. Sesshomaru watched the girl take a deep breath and shake her head. Then she circled around his person and stood before the well. Sesshomaru turned.

"Remember demon", she declared, placing a knee on the rim, the summer sun warming her back, "you still owe me."

Sachiko leapt into the well, the blue light washing over her.

She was still smiling when her borrowed sandals touched the hard earth at the bottom of the well, the trailing sleeves of her haori and billowy hakama shifting with the currents of her landing. Maybe she had forfeited the pleasure of trapping an arrogant demon in his own words, but she supposed she could let that go. _Maybe I should have made him call me Sachiko-sama and not 'human',_ she grinned as she scaled the ladder, _Oh well._

Her wrist suddenly felt prickly. She turned it just in time to see a flash of green light disappear into her skin. She stared at it quizzically for a moment, and chalking it to a play of light, shrugged and stepped out of the well.

 **...**

Sesshomaru watched the blue glow fade. Indebted to a human- had he no honor at all? She could have demanded anything- his life, his servitude, his _pride_ \- and he would have had no choice but to comply. Yet she hadn't. Was she kind, or merely foolish?

 _Strange_ , he found himself thinking as he leapt to the warm morning air and into the greenery of the forest.

* * *

 ** _I swear, all that kooky philosophy is gonna come back and bite me in the ass as plot-holes._**

 ** _I loved writing this chappie. I hope Sesshomaru wasn't OOC : since this is post- canon, I thought he'd be a bit more lenient. Let me know what you think._**

 ** _The next chapter will start off the first major arc- 'The Fallen God arc'. (Dun dun dun!)_**

 ** _A note of thanks to all those who reviewed- oh my god guys! You have no idea how much I love you!_**

 ** _Review if you wanna see more!_**


	7. Of Green Flames and Reciprocation

**_Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing her characters for my own nefarious purposes. Kodama belongs to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Again, nefarious purposes._**

 ** _Warning: language, and, ehem, adult themes? Although not too adult. Don't get your hopes up._**

 ** _..._**

 ** _...Blessed..._**

* * *

 ** _...Of Green flames and Reciprocation..._**

 ** _..._**

 _"You might want to lie down," Magnus advised. "I find that it helps when the crushing sense of horrible realization sets in."_  
 ** _— Cassandra Clare (City of Ashes)_**

 ** _..._**

"Wires", Misa proclaimed over the upbeat capoeira music of the Miami swim week runway show, slamming her empty mug onto the table in Sachiko's apartment. "It's gotta be wires."

"I certainly do not think so", Rhiannon countered, tearing her eyes off the laptop screen that was displaying a beautiful man with a chiseled jawline walking to music in a swimsuit. "There's no humanly possible way that anyone could have placed wires at such a height with no one knowing."

"So you're telling me _this",_ Misa practically shoved the mobile phone in Rhiannon's face, "is for real- A cosplayer _flying_?"

"I never said that. I think the whole video is fake", Rhiannon gazed towards the girl mutely sipping her vodka. "What do you think, Sachiko?"

Sachiko cast a weary glance at the mobile screen, on which streamed a seven second video, a distant shot of… someone seemingly whooshing through the air, their features covered by the white fur pelt wrapped around the shoulder before a skyscraper obscured them from view. This was followed by a change in the angle and a much closer shot of some dumbstruck teenagers.

If she looked _very_ closely, she could make out the vague shadow of another person's features beyond him. Sachiko couldn't help but cringe. Thank goodness the clearest videos circulating around only showed Sesshomaru's right side. Additional thanks for the baggy outfit and the fur thing that caught the wind nicely. _Stupid careless demon,_ she chastised the mental image of Sesshomaru which glowered at her, much like the original. _Who waltzes into another dimension without a care like that?_

 _Multiple sightings over Tokyo,_ the newspapers had proclaimed excitedly. The internet had christened him 'the cruiser', celebrating him all over social media. There were entire websites dedicated to discussing the mysterious being in white, featuring him as anything and everything from a _U._ F.O to the Antichrist. Not to mention the memes and chatrooms and whatnot.

To think the demon had traveled five hundred years to the future to become an internet sensation. She prayed to any god who would listen that no one had tracked him to her apartment.

"Um", she said, "I think it's just some weird...publicity stunt?" Almost a month had passed since this incident so why couldn't people just lay it to rest and chalk it up with other unexplained phenomena?

"Publicity for what exactly?" Rhiannon lifted an eyebrow.

"Um, cosplay?" She suggested lamely, " _Say_ , why are we discussing some fake video when there are sexy hunks ramp-walking in next to nothi-" She gasped at the Spanish model in the blue swimsuit, " _Oohmigoodness_ did you see that? He _flexed!"_

Misa exchanged a rare, knowing glance with Rhiannon.

"Sachiko", she said sagely, "Are you _alright?_ "

"What?" Sachiko said, slightly taken aback by this question. "Where is this coming from?"

"Well _",_ Rhiannon adjusted her glasses, "Usually when incidents like…what with Soichiro happen, you end up rather mopey and depressed for at least a week", she explained, "Not to mention holing up in your apartment like a hermit…"

"Oh", Sachiko said.

"But this time you seem pretty okay", Misa shrugged. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you are feeling just peachy, but it's just not the you that we know. " Misa paused, levelled a scrutinizing gaze at her, then gasped dramatically. "Sachiko, are you seeing someone behind our backs?!"

"What? No!" Sachiko blurted. "Come on guys, I have a better chance of plugging a USB right at the first try. Besides, if I were going out, do you think I'd shut up about it?"

"Hmm…that's true", Rhiannon observed, "she would have drilled a hole through our heads gushing about the guy."

"Aw Rhi…", she protested weakly, "I'm not _that_ bad…"

"Oh but you are, love", Misa poked at her cheek, grinning.

"So you really are okay?"

"Not entirely, but getting there", she said with a smile.

"Well, it is good to know you are getting better at handling yourself." Rhiannon said approvingly.

"Good for you then you tough… _cookie_ ", Misa cheered, raising her glass. "To personal growth", she declared.

"Being strong women", Rhiannon clinked her glass to Misa's.

"And not crying over guys", Sachiko joined in. It was not that she was completely over Soichiro- even the mention of his name felt like a punch to the gut, making her wince involuntarily. She really would have been weeping and wallowing in self-pity- it's just that…

… After Sesshomaru had barged in so unexpectedly into her apartment, she wasn't able to spare a single moment to think about Soichiro and the pretty Yoshino for the whole night- it made her really reexamine the importance of that man in her life; as opposed to the very real threat of being impaled on a sword that is. It was a weird way to get over someone- that's probably why it worked, giving her a boost down the path of redemption from lost love she would have eventually had to walk on her own. She still loved Soichiro, she really did, and the pain of such a sudden loss had left an aching emptiness in her heart. On occasion she even caught herself brooding quietly with tears in her eyes. But other than that she was fine. She went through life as she usually did, even if with a slight air of melancholy about her. Sachiko pressed the play button on the video again.

Surprisingly, she was fine, and not the emotional trainwreck she had feared she would turn into.

 _Funnily_ _enough, it's all thanks to Sesshomaru._ A smile played on her lips as she watched the fur boa rippling in the air, obscuring almost all his distinctive features. It almost looked like a cloud trailing behind him.

She supposed not everything was bad. At least not right now, sipping vodka from coffee mugs with Misa and Rhiannon, sitting together cozily around the low table and watching handsome men walk around with their upper bodies gloriously bare. Sure, her family was growing distant from her, her grades were just average and her romantic life, well… that didn't even exist. But right now, she felt happy and looked after, slowly getting inebriated with her friends. Everything was wonderful, even if only for the present.

Then again, she reflected wisely, wasn't the present the only thing that anybody ever truly had in their grasp?

Smile, she told herself. The night was still young and there was plenty of booze to go around. Also hot male models.

"Come _oooooon_! Work it baby!" Misa wolf- whistled at the screen after God knew how many drinks.

"And it is _Rhiannon_ , as I have told you countless times before", Rhiannon declared halfway through her and Sachiko's shared second bottle, voice slightly slurred. "I'll have you know Sachiko, I'm not above using negative reinforcement if that's what it takes to set you straight."

"Alright _alright_ ", Sachiko said, taking a break from blowing kisses at the screen. "Your name is kind'a long you know. _Rhi_ is much easier."

"How about 'Rin'?" Misa offered, nosing drunkenly through the empty chips packs like a raccoon.

"Absolutely not", Rhiannon protested hotly. "It is _my_ name, and I expect to be addressed in its entirety. And not by an abbreviated _mockery_ of it."

"Whoa, sure _suuure_ ", Misa said, holding her hands up in a placating gesture. "I'm sorry." Rhiannon seemed to relax a bit.

"My apologies…I seemed to have lost my cool for a bit there." She sighed. "I blame the alcohol. No, scratch that- I blame myself. Under no circumstances should I have overreacted..."

"Chill out, wouldt'cha?" Misa waved her concerns away. "Sachiko, where's the bottle? Pour my best friend Rhiannon more booze."

"Best Friend?" Sachiko hiccuped, "Yknow, I know someone named Rin." Misa scoffed.

"Who doesn't? There was one huge biatch- y'know, the backstabbing rumor-spreading kind- in my high-school with that name. _Oops_ , no offence Rhiannon. "

"Why should I be offended? I don't know this _Rin…"_ Rhiannon had a faraway look in her eyes. Her cheeks were flushed and she actually looked happy. "Rin", she did something that sounded suspiciously close to a giggle.

"Anyway, long story short- I hated that bitch. And then I left high school", Misa concluded. "Wonder how she's doing?"

"But the Rin I know is a cute little girl, not a bitch." Sachiko fished out a bottle from the clutter on the floor and proceeded to fill Rhiannon's glass. "She was pretty, and cute, and really cheerful…Oh holy hell, that brown- haired one; I could just eat him up!"

"Well maybe she'll grow up to be a bitch", Misa proclaimed, reaching for the bottle. She could drink both her and Rhiannon under the table and it seemed she was hell bent on proving herself tonight.

"I don't think Sesshomaru will let that happen", Sachiko hastily closed her mouth but the damage was already done.

"Who's Sessho...maru?" Rhiannon asked tipsily, looking close to passing out.

"Imaginary friend!" Sachiko blurted out the first thing that came to her mind.

Surprisingly, that worked.

"That's a weird name for an imaginary friend", Misa sighed longingly. " _God_ , I'll kill for a cigarette...Huh! It's the dreadlock guy again! Turn around baby, turn arou- _Ooooh_ come to mommy!"

"I used to have an imaginary friend", Rhiannon recollected _s_ olemnly.

"Ooh, I sense blackmail material", Misa grinned. "Sachiko, pour her another one!"

"What am I, a bartender ?" Sachiko grumbled, but filled their glasses anyway.

"Dibs on dreadlocks!" Misa announced suddenly.

"Aw, no fair", Sachiko groaned, "he's the hottest!"

" _Dibs_? Seriously?" Rhiannon chided, always the voice of reason even though currently half-drunk. "What are you, children?"

"Dibs on the Spanish guy!" Sachiko proclaimed.

"Ugh, not you too."

"Ya snooze, y'lose, Rhiannon", Misa winked at her and knocked back another shot. Rhiannon gave her a disapproving look, well at least she tried to, only succeeding in wrinkling her brow and looking funny.

"Sachiko, I think your cat is judging us", Rhiannon pointed out.

Sachiko stared at the feline that had mysteriously appeared in her apartment yet again. It blinked at her in an expression of acute boredom, as if watching her was as stimulating as watching paint dry.

"That cat is not mine, it's just a freeloader", She complained. "And a total jerk."

"Then what's it doing here?"

Sachiko sighed and pulled herself up unsteadily, the buzzing of alcohol in her bones, her head filled with pleasant giddiness. "Ugh, I guess it wants dinner."

"Get that bottle…of _whiskey_ you said you had", Rhiannon, who was steadily drinking herself to a stupor, instructed.

"Don't pass out", Misa said jokingly after her as she stumbled to the kitchen, the tabby dutifully following her.

"Screw you Misa", she replied in a sing-song as she walked away. Humming some inane song, she placed the cat's bowl on the floor and ladled rice into it.

"Here you are, your Highness", she joked.

The cat gave her a dirty look (she just _knew_ it was a dirty look) and promptly began to dig in.

"Might as well start buying cat food", she muttered to herself, watching the feline chow down. She took out the bottle of whiskey from the refrigerator and placed it on the counter. It was half- empty, thanks to her emotional bingeing the previous month.

"Aw", she groaned. "That's not enough for three people…" If only there was some way to multiply alcohol…

"I command thou bottle to be filled...", she drunkenly ordered the bottle, hand thrown out for effect. "…with whiskey", she added as an afterthought. She even visualized the liquor bubbling to the top, concentrating very hard.

Half a minute later she had to give up, having only succeeded in crossing her eyes and giving herself a pounding headache.

"Go figure." She stared accusingly at the bottle, soothing her temples, "If I have godly powers, why don't they ever work when _I_ want something?"

"Quit talkin' to yourself and get back here with the booze Sachiko!"

"In a minute!" She replied, cheeks burning at having been heard. Conversing with herself was an unfortunate side effect of living alone. Whoever was it that said talking to oneself marked the beginning of losing one's grip on sanity? If it were true she was surely making steady progress towards padded cells and straitjackets. Clasping the regrettably half-empty bottle around the neck, she took a swig of the fiery liquid.

Suddenly there was that strange burning in her palm again. A large chunk of skin on her hand vanished, leaving a pricking sensation in its wake, revealing the layer of fat and muscle beneath. The bottle fell to the ground and shattered, splattering alcohol everywhere. The cat leapt back with a startled mew and hissed loudly at her. Sachiko stared at her hands in horrified disbelief. The skin on her legs was punctured with glass shards.

"Sachiko!" She heard Misa get up.

"It's okay, I just dropped the bottle", she called out, her voice high in alarm. "Don't come in- the floor's filled with glass."

Breathing fast and shallow, she gazed at the green light that covered her hands. She felt the glass shards push their way out of the skin and her wounds close up. Her skin was suddenly hot and clammy, as if she were having a fever. The ground swayed, she instinctively threw her hands out and supported herself on the counter.

"Hey, you okay?" Misa appeared at the doorway. "Geez, what a mess. You hurt?"

"N-no", she breathed, leaning against the counter. "I'm fine. Don't come in- let me clean up."

"Need any help?"

"No, just go!" she almost yelled, "I'll take care of this." She added, hoping she didn't sound too harsh.

"Okay...", Misa gave her a suspicious glance before making herself scarce. Sachiko hurriedly examined her hands, breathing out in relief to see that they had returned to normal.

 _What was that?_ She had been experiencing odd flashes of green light on her body over the past month but never to this extent. And now her skin… _vanished_?

She ran her fingers over the smooth skin of her hand, now perfectly normal, and wondered what the hell that was about. _Some kind of godly vitamin deficiency?_ She wondered, bringing a shaky hand to shift a lock of hair away from her face. Well, what else could it be except something brought upon by her newfound powers? It was not like she could get herself a medical workup – heaven knows what would show up in her blood-work, now that her body had magical healing properties.

Sachiko buried her face in her hands. Just when she thought everything was going well…Why now with midterms so close?

"Mrow", the cat said brusquely, as if demanding an apology for the faux-pas.

"Not now", she said testily.

Maybe it was nothing, she tried consoling herself, maybe that had just been…a play of light?

 _Maybe if I ignore it, it'll just go away?_

With a sigh laced with equal parts exasperation and fear, she carefully trudged across the room to get her broom.

* * *

Ignoring it proved fruitless. The flashes of light came and went as they pleased, sending pangs of anxiety through her frazzled psyche, already weighed down by exam stress. Nobody else could see the green light and there was no pain- in fact, no difficulties at all save the incident with the whiskey bottle. However, Sachiko _knew_ those flashes didn't bode well for her for some reason. Internally, she was aware of what the logical next step should be- she needed to find Haruo and seek advice. However, she kept procrastinating, because some part of her was damn sure it was going to be bad news. _I'll go after the tests…_ She kept telling herself, _if there's reason to worry, might as well start worrying late. And if it's nothing to worry about, well, no harm done anyway._

The flaw in this logic made itself apparent two weeks later, when she woke up in the middle of the night with a scream dying in her throat, from a nightmare in which her body disintegrated and finally crumbled to dust.

"I can't take this anymore", She spoke quietly to the darkness in the apartment, wiping cold sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. The stress of not knowing was too much to handle. She had spent most of the past two weeks with a quivering bundle of nerves in her stomach, always on edge, always irritable, constantly mulling over the problem. The constant worry was beginning to take a toll on her, slowly gnawing through her peace of mind.

Sachiko lied down, angrily brushed the stress-induced tears away, closed her eyes, and prayed herself to sleep.

…..

 _She was in a room with tall white walls and a square window through which the bleached light of the overcast sky shone through._

' _Damn, where's the stupid forest?'_

 _She rushed out of the door to the cityscape, walking around for a while through the endless maze of edifices before entering another building…_

… _and found herself in the same whitewashed room again._

 _What the-_

 _Another building, and another, and another one later, she still found herself in the same room, mocking her with its tall, hoary walls._

 _A wave of panic rose in her heart. In response the sky darkened. Thunder crashed somewhere nearby. There was a rumbling sensation beneath her feet._

 _Sachiko tried calming herself down. Okay, she told herself, so obviously rushing into buildings isn't the way to go. She walked to the wall directly opposite the door and crossed her arms. It wasn't for nothing 'Inception_ ' _was her favorite_ movie. _Well, it was everyone's favorite movie, but that was beside the point as of now._

 _She traced the outline of a door on the wall and closed her eyes. When she opened them, there was a door in front of her._

' _That's right, I'm the boss here', she grinned, twisting the doorknob._

 _Opening the door, she stepped out from the room with the unfriendly white walls and into the welcoming, lush greenery of the forest. "Bingo," she cheered._

 _It didn't take long to locate Haruo. The deity was sitting on the high branch of a very tall tree, his long aurelian hair spilling down over it, gleaming in the golden light of the evening sun._

" _Ah, Sachiko, what a pleasant surprise", the god called out with a smile. "Come up here, the view is lovely."_

 _Sachiko could barely open her mouth to yell that she wasn't in a mood to climb trees before a lurching sensation overtook her and she found herself beside the god. "Ack!" she made a small noise of surprise and held on to the branch with a white-knuckled grip, afraid to look down._

" _Relax", he said kindly, "you won't fall. Look over there, isn't it lovely?"_

 _It was beautiful, the varied hues of green in the forest, lit by the soft golden luminescence of the evening sun. However, Sachiko wasn't feeling terribly disposed towards appreciating the view._

"T _here's something I need to talk to you about", she said._

" _Oh?" Haruo brought his long pipe to his lips. "Sounds serious."_

 _Tripping over her words, Sachiko told him of her strange affliction-the green light and her vanishing skin and the general feeling of something gone awry. The god listened to it all with a straight, uncharacteristically serious face._

 _"It's not anything to worry about, is it?" She said hopefully, even as the twisting anxiety grew stronger in her gut. The god gazed at her silently for a long, drawn out moment before he spoke._

" _Let me see your hands." He held out his own, his expression grave. Sachiko hesitated, her eyes worriedly searching his face for answers before she placed her hand on his. He flipped her palm and gazed intently at the spot where the skin had vanished two weeks ago. She watched the smooth skin of his forehead crease in a frown._

" _I apologize, Sachiko", he said finally, "I had feared this outcome, but I wasn't expecting it to strike so early."_

" _So it's bad, isn't it?" She piped nervously, "What is it?"_

" _To put it in simple terms", he paused as if giving her time to prepare, "your body is melting."_

" _M-_ melting _?" She parroted incredulously, pulling back her hands from his grasp. "How? I mean…_ why _?"_

" _There is simply too much of my power within you- more than what your body is capable of handling."_

 _Sachiko opened and closed her mouth incredulously, trying to process what was happening._

" _As of now, your healing powers are working on your body to restore it as soon as the power corrodes it away", he explained, "and hence the flashes of light. But eventually the rate at which your body disintegrate will be more than the rate at which you can heal it."_

" _So I'll die", she blurted. "I'm going to die", she said again, as if grasping at the meaning behind the words that sounded too unreal to be true, waiting for him to contradict them._

 _Haruo shook his head. "It will be painless", he said sadly. Sachiko felt something snap within her._

" _What the fuck are you_ kidding _me?!" She yelled in a fit of rage. "It will be_ painless _? That's all you can say?! This is all your fault, mister! I never asked you to give me your powers, you just shoved them into me without my consent and now look at what's happening! I can't believe that after all the crap I had to face I-!"_

 _To her intense vexation, the god buried his head in his hands and began sobbing uncontrollably._

" _Oh Sachiko!" he said in a muffled voice, "I'm sorry, I truly am! I only acted according to the- I never wanted this to happen- I-!"_

 _In a strange turn of events, Sachiko found herself consoling the distraught deity. Following her innate sense of camaraderie she dug into her pocket for a tissue, before she remembered she was dreaming, and then was surprised by the handkerchief made of green silk she pulled out of it. She handed it to the god who accepted it gratefully._

" _You must hate me", he sobbed, his green eyes slightly red and misted over with tears._

" _No I don't", she muttered, feeling a pang of sadness in her chest as she looked at his handsome face, crumpled because of the tears, even as the sensible part of her screamed that she shouldn't be the one feeling guilty. She never could hold a grudge to save her life._

 _Besides, it was awfully difficult to get mad while perched on a tree._

" _I never wanted anything untoward to happen to you", he said with a look of genuine concern._

" _Alright, I trust you ", she said, awkwardly patting his back, "though I probably shouldn't."_

" _Thank you. Kindness has always been one of your most endearing qualities", he sniffled. "I am not trying to harvest your soul, by the way." Sachiko blanched. Damn his mind-reading powers._

" _Is there any way you could take back your mojo?"_

" _No, Sachiko", he said forlornly, "not without causing you permanent harm."_

" _Yeah, I figured as much", she sighed, gazing down at the forest and wondering how long she had with a strange sense of inevitability._

" _But there is a way to cure it."_

 _She almost fell off the branch in her excitement. "Well then, spill it!"_

" _It's simple really", he delicately dabbed the handkerchief at the corner of his eyes, "you just need to consume the heart of a fallen god."_

" _What?"_

" _Let me explain", he began, "Gods normally are unable to extend their influence directly into the physical world. They can only do so indirectly -fulfilling wishes, possessing a mortal or via their chosen familiars. Or by siphoning some of their powers to a mortal, as in your case. We do not have a body as mortals do to walk among you, unless, as I said, we possess a willing host", he looked at her, ensuring her attention, "A fallen god is one that is so bound to earth that they come to possess a body."_

" _Again,_ what _?"_

" _There are many ways a god could fall", Haruo continued as if he hadn't heard her, a pained look in his eyes, "To have fallen, to be a wretched creature filled with darkness and hatred, is the worst thing that could happen to a god."_

" _Okay._ Okay", _she said, trying to make sense of his words, "So I have to_ eat _", she winced, "this fallen god's heart?"_

" _It is not like a mortal's heart as you envision", he said, as if that made it better. "It is the core that holds a god's body together- something of great power. Consuming one is the best, and regrettably, the only way for you to strengthen your body."_

" _Well damn", she shook her head, running a nervous hand through her hair. "Where do I find a fallen god?"_

" _Hm, let me see", he closed his eyes and opened them again. "Unfortunately there are no fallen gods in your world, but there is one beyond the well."_

" _You mean, in the past?"_

" _Correct", he said, "There is a god that has fallen in one of the villages to the north of Edo."_

" _But it's dangerous there", she protested, "I'll be eaten up by demons long before I even reach this village!" Haruo seemed to be thinking along the same lines._

" _Well, then there is but one option", Haruo suggested, "You need to find someone to accompany you."_

* * *

The bone-eater's well sat benignly in the midst of the grassy meadow, speckled with splotches of sunlight that gently warmed the old wood. The dark top of a head rose from it, followed by an arm, which deposited a pink satchel on the grass.

 _Stupid vines, ugh why is this so difficult?_

After a fair amount of huffing and puffing and teeth-grinding, Sachiko managed to pull herself up by the vines and climb out of the darn well. For a moment she sat on the lip, surveying the brightly lit glade, birdsong in her ears, ready to drop into the well in a moment's notice at the first sign of danger.

 _Here I am,_ she thought incredulously _,_ _Again._

She wondered if the Higurashis knew how she was using the well for commuting to the feudal era. She was in such a state of disoriented panic that she totally forgot to ask permission. She hoped they didn't mind. Sachiko stood up, and after casting an almost longing look down the path that lead to Kagome's village, turned back towards the lush greenery of the forest.

 **….**

" _It'll have to be someone powerful", Haruo said._

" _Maybe Kagome and Inuyasha?"_

" _Could you really trouble them?_ " _Haruo posed, "Besides,_ _if they set out on this journey with you, there is a very real chance that they perish."_

 **… _.._**

That was not encouraging at all _,_ she thought morosely, looking up at the tall branches. The tiny green creatures stopped their frolicking and trained their vacuous eyes on her. _What_ _has my life come to?_

"Hiya", she greeted. One of the kodama gently floated down from its perch and to her outstretched hand.

"Hello there cutie", she said, poking it gently at the middle, making it rumble and purr as if it were being tickled. "Could you guys help me out a bit?"

 **… _.._**

"S _omeone who could protect you from the dangers of the path."_

" _But I don't…"_

" _As I recall, there's a youkai you met there, correct?"_

 **… _..._**

 _This feels kind'a like a goddamned suicide mission,_ Sachiko, pessimistic as she was, mused morosely. The kodama gathered on the treetops, showing her the way.

 _I mean, there's like no way that guy will help me out. He might even try to disembowel me if I just waltz in and ask him to repay me…No scratch that, he's_ definitely _gonna disembowel me. I should turn around; screw Haruo and this stupid...side-quest!_

Sachiko sighed, trying to ignore her intestines twisting themselves into anxious knots. What was she thinking? This was a literal life-or-death situation for her. She had to see this through: there was simply no other choice. Unless she wanted to…melt. She suddenly had a very vivid mental image of her body peeling off in layers like an onion, then turn into icky, gooey, mush. She shuddered despite the heat.

 _Thanks brain. I totally_ _needed to see that._

Maybe the heat was getting to her. She despairingly ran a hand through her sweat- soaked bangs and shook out her ponytail to aerate her scalded scalp.

 _Stupid hime-cut. This is all Misa's fault. 'Ooh you're gonna look so cute with bangs Sachiko'… Ugh I told her blunt bangs'll make my face look bigger, but did she listen? Noooo…_ She huffed and folded the sleeves of her t-shirt back to her shoulders.

A shrewd part of her psyche observed that she was involuntarily doing everything she could to not dwell too much on the fact that she would _d-word_ in about two months. It wisely decided to keep this opinion to itself.

After almost an hour of trekking vaguely in the north-western direction, she came across a small, nondescript clearing in the woods. The kodama stopped there and gently bobbed their heads up and down. Sachiko looked at them blankly. Were they telling her he was here?

"You sure he's nearby?" She asked the tree- spirit near her.

In response the tree-spirits began bobbing their heads in unison, making that strange rattling sound that filled the forest.

"Alright, alright", she implored, "I get it- he's somewhere here, probably invisible or something. Could you please stop with the noise?" And just like that the forest fell silent.

"Right, let's just get this over with." She slipped her backpack off and then pulled it back to her shoulders again. "Sesshomaru? _Sesshomaru!_ I need to talk to you!" She called out, walking around. "I know you are here! _Sesshoma-_?" There was a vague sensation of stepping through something that felt like the surface of a bubble.

Suddenly the lord of the western lands was standing before her, looking down his nose at her like she was something he had stepped on.

And he was not alone.

"My son", drawled the tall, stately woman draped in furs beside him, "Who is this little creature that addresses you with such familiarity?" Said demon merely glared at Sachiko, who, for her part, was staring dumbly at the duo.

"She even broke through my barrier", the woman's eyes narrowed analytically, "what a strange being."

 _His mother. That's Sesshomaru's mother!_

 _Boy oh boy,_ Sachiko's brain said, grabbing some popcorn. She was _not_ prepared for this. Sachiko was a good, pessimistic girl who always thought of worst case scenarios just because she liked to beat herself up that way, but not even in her most imaginative speculations did she consider the possibility of facing the woman who actually gave birth to Sesshomaru. To be honest, she couldn't even imagine Sesshomaru having a mother, or for that matter, him ever being a child: it was as if he had burst forth into the world adult- sized one fine day, scowling at everything.

The lady was like the female version of him, except for the mirth and mischief that shone behind the mask that was her face in place of the thinly veiled condescension that took permanent residence in her son's countenance. Sachiko stood there, opening and closing her mouth like a fish breathing underwater, unsure of what to say or how to react, looking from the quietly amused youkai to the subtly irritated youkai.

 _Do something! You look like a total idiot just standing there!_ She urged herself, startling her brain into action.

In a quick motion, Sachiko dropped to the earthen ground, bowing before the lady. _What-what am I doing?_

"I- I apologize for the intrusion!" She squeaked. _Am I seriously bowing to her? Seriously?! God, why did I watch all those period dramas? How demeaning!_

"Rise now", the western lady instructed, her beautiful purple-tinted lips pulled to a small smile, "A god needn't prostrate herself before us like a common peasant…Besides, your form is poor."

With eyes widened in surprise, Sachiko stared up at the demoness. _She knows?_

"Come now; don't look so surprised little human-god. Your aura speaks volumes more about you than you could divulge yourself", the demoness said smoothly.

Beside his mother, Sesshomaru frowned. A god? That explained quite a few things while spawning another set of puzzlers. He gazed at the human staring dumbly up at them from the ground. What was she doing here, away from that strange, maddeningly distracting world of hers, wearing that strange attire? Why had she been looking for him? Sesshomaru had a bad feeling about this, and countless years of watching his back had taught him never to dismiss his gut instincts. Speculating silently, the inu-youkai watched the scene unfolding before him.

"Are you fond of kissing the ground so, little human-god? Why, I have never seen someone quite like you; and I've lived longer than you could even imagine", the western lady teased, clearly pleased that she had found herself a source of entertainment.

Sachiko slowly picked herself up, cheeks red in embarrassment, and discreetly dusted the earth from her forehead. _Wow, way to make a first impression, Sachiko._

"Now, did you want to speak with my no-good son about anything?"

"Um, yes!" She cried, cringing at how high and panicky her voice sounded. When she envisioned herself speaking she had sounded smoother and cooler than cucumber ice-cream, bargaining with mafia-esque composure. Well, these things never went as planned anyway.

"I need his help!"

"His help?" She raised an elegant eyebrow.

"Um, yes ma'am", She answered, regaining some of her lost nerve. "I suffer from a…disease _,_ and the cure requires me to make a long journey. I was hoping for his protection while I am on this journey." She wondered if her words sounded as absurd to the two demons as they did to her. To her surprise, the lady let out a small chuckle.

"You are quite intrepid for a young human facing two daiyoukai. Quite endearing, really", she said in a silky voice, leaving Sachiko wondering whether she was complementing or insulting her. " _Now_ , Sesshomaru, what do you say to her request?"

"The answer is _no"_ _,_ the demon said imperiously, fixing her with an icy stare. "I haven't the time to spare on mortals and their pathetic afflictions."

 _Rude,_ Sachiko glowered back. Then again, what else did she expect from him?

"But my son", the demoness said innocently, "after the death of that half-demon Naraku, all you have been doing is gallivanting across the country and unnecessarily picking fights. You seem to have the slightest interest neither in helping your poor mother watch over your father's lands, nor…"

"Mother", Sesshomaru spoke through gritted teeth, "Must we do this _now_?"

"I see", the demoness heaved a long-suffering sigh, "you haven't changed- still a child without a care in the world."

" _Mother."_

"Very well, son- I shall cease griping. Alas, my own son thinks of my concerns as bothersome. Oh how cruel a fate to befall an old mother!"

Sachiko watched the exchange with piqued interest. The western lady was attempting to look woeful, not holding back on the dramatic flair, while her son was attempting to look as neutral as possible. Watching him, Sachiko had a vague impression that he was doing everything in his power to not roll his eyes. It was almost as entertaining as watching a sitcom. _How I met Sesshomaru's mother. Haha._

 _Okay that was a terrible pun._

"Little human-god", the demoness called, "My pigheaded son refuses to help you. Have you anything to say to help your case?"

Sachiko sighed. She didn't want to have to do this, but she was getting desperate.

"Actually yes", she said, her throat suddenly dry. She braced herself and licked her chapped lips, her heart speeding up. "I had done Sesshomaru-" Noticing the telltale narrowing of the lady's eyes, she amended, " _Sesshomaru-sama,_ a favor and I was hoping he would be, _erm_ , kind enough to provide his protection as payment…", she trailed off, wondering if she had spoken too much. The lady blinked in surprise.

"What is this?" she spoke, "My son, did you really seek assistance from this mortal?" Sesshomaru shot her a glare that could have frozen over deserts.

"I did", he spoke venomously.

"It was a life-or-death situation, kind of", Sachiko piped helpfully from the sidelines.

"This is astonishing", the demoness looked from him to her, "My son actually received help from a mortal woman. Oh how low you have stooped, Sesshomaru."

 _That's kinda rude, what's wrong with getting help from me?_ Sachiko pouted.

Sesshomaru said nothing, he only glared at his mother as if he knew what was coming.

"That settles it then, you will protect this human girl on her journey as payment for whatever services she had provided. After all, it is only honorable to repay one's debts. Don't you agree my son?"

"Hn", Sesshomaru elaborated.

"What was that?"

" _Yes,_ mother", he enunciated icily.

"Wonderful!" The demoness clapped her hands together. "Now, human-god", she said, smiling fondly, "if you would be kind enough to leave us for a moment…We were discussing something rather important before your appearance."

"Erm, yes ma'am!" She turned tail and ran into the cover of the trees, surprised at how easily things turned out in her favor. _That went really well,_ Sachiko grinned, _I don't know why, but I think Sesshomaru's mom likes me._

 **… _.._**

"Son", the western lady spoke after the girl had disappeared from view, "Did you know that consuming a god's flesh will enable you to gain its powers?" Her son quirked an eyebrow.

"Are you suggesting that I eat the girl?"

"Oh, how astute of you", the demoness remarked flatly.

"I will not defile my palate with such a disgusting meal", Sesshomaru alleged defiantly. His mother looked put out.

"Fine. Be that way", she pouted. "I only suggested it so that you may put an end to this futile quest for power and carry on your father's legacy as the ruler of the western lands."

"I shall only do so once I have defeated an opponent worthy of myself."

"So never", his mother sighed. "Will you, my son, at least provide me with a grandchild who I may raise to be the heir of our lands?"

"I do not feel the need to take a wife as of now."

The western lady pinched the bridge of her nose. "You were always a difficult child", she said testily. "Perhaps I should let the half-breed inherit the lands. After all, he was the one who inherited the _Tetsusaiga_." Sesshomaru bristled at this insinuation, his eyes taking on a slight tinge of red.

"And I possess the _Bakusaiga,_ a sword that disintegrates anything that it cuts, a sword that belongs to me alone and not some family heirloom", he defended strongly. The western lady let out a yawn.

"Yes dear, you have a bigger sword than a hanyou. Mother is so proud", she said in an unimpressed tone. Sesshomaru scowled. His mother knew just how to rile him up. Ruthlessly perceptive, she was aware that he still grappled with how he fit into his father's legacy, being the son who wasn't bequeathed the _Tetsusaiga_.

"If that is all, I believe it is time for you to take your leave", he said brusquely.

"Rude as usual, Sesshomaru", the western lady huffed. "Oh your father was such a gentleman, he just knew how to treat a woman."

"Of course", Sesshomaru said flatly. _And_ _that is what got him killed in the end_ , he didn't say.

"At least I leave happily knowing you will have fun escorting the human girl", his mother smirked deviously behind her sleeve as a mass of youki enveloped her. "Do be careful, Sesshomaru. You don't want to end up like your honourable father now, do you?"

Scowling, Sesshomaru watched the massive white dog ascend to the skies, sending dust and rubble flying in her wake.

 _And she wonders why I do not visit her._

 **….**

Sachiko watched the giant dog sail across the sky with eyes widened in awe, sitting on the gnarled roots of a tree. "That's your mother?" She asked the demon who appeared behind her. He scowled.

"I'll take that as a yes", she mumbled. "Hey, can you morph into a dog too?" His scowl deepened.

 _Boy, someone's cranky._ Her eyes darted towards the trees, the sky and the ground below before she could muster enough fortitude to look him in the eye."Um, thanks for, you know, agreeing to do this. I know you must be mad, I kinda put you on the spot back there."

Silence.

"I'm sorry; if I had another choice, I wouldn't have bothered you."

Silence again. Sachiko sighed mentally and wondered if she banged her head on a tree trunk enough times she could wake up from this nightmare. She also wondered how many bruises she would sport in the morning from sitting on the tree-roots because her backside was aching like hell. She nervously tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear and chewed on her lower lip.

"I-I'm sorry I got you in trouble with your mother?" She tried as the last resort. She was never very good at conversations, especially the non-verbal kind which the demon lord seemed to lean towards.

Sesshomaru narrowed his eyes at this. "Hn", he snorted, lip curling in displeasure.

Sachiko guessed this was an improvement- at least she could coax out a reaction, that meant this was going somewhere _._ Smiling politely, she adjusted the straps of her backpack, trying not to seem as fidgety as she felt.

"So, um, you _are_ going to help me, aren't you?" She got to her feet and dusted herself off. If looks could kill, she would have been a corpse the moment she had stepped inside the barrier.

"My honor demands that of me", the demon said tightly. _Help?_ His hackles raised. How dare this woman speak to him as if he were merely her errand boy? He would have slit her throat right then and there had it not been a question of his cherished integrity. Oblivious to the peril her life was in, the girl spoke again.

"Oh, okay. Great. Do you have any questions?"

"Yes", he spoke in a voice dripping with displeasure. Her brazen attitude towards him was irritating him to no end. "What is this cure that you speak of?"

"That's easy, the cure is the heart of a fallen god."

 _A fallen god?_ This caught Sesshomaru's interest.

"I was informed that there was a fallen god in a village to the north", she was prattling, "but unfortunately I don't know the exact location..."

"There is someone who would know", Sesshomaru stated, surprising her. Was he actually being cooperative?

"Great", Sachiko cheered. "Let's go ask them then!"

* * *

The magnolia tree stood quietly in the forest, seamlessly blending into the background. A human who chanced to gaze upon it would not think much of it, except perhaps comment offhandedly about how it looked much older and larger than what was usual for its kind, maybe even remark how the other trees grew a little away from the magnolia, as if keeping a respectful distance.

When Sachiko looked at it, she saw two things out of the ordinary. Number one was the sheer number of kodama that gathered in its boughs, all squeaking and rattling lustily amidst the green leaves.

Number two was the withered old face that gazed at them with half-lidded eyes from a crevice on the moss-covered bark. _This so goes straight into the list of top ten_ _weirdest crap I've ever seen. Right next to the talking flea, and the two headed lizard that flew me here._

"Erm, _hello_ ", she said politely, half-expecting to be unanswered, surprised when it actually spoke.

"Greetings, human- god. I have been expecting you", Bokusenou spoke in a leathery voice, surveying her over his long, hooked nose.

 _A clairvoyant tree?_ Sachiko gazed at Sesshomaru in surprise. The demon lord stood a little away behind her, looking past her to the withered face of the magnolia, arms tucked into his sleeves. Judging from the bored look on the his face, this sort of prophetic mannerism was usual behavior for the tree.

"I presume you came here to seek a cure for your weakening body?"

"Uh, yeah", she said, reminding herself not to be surprised. "I need the location of the fallen god. Do you know where I can find-?"

"Yes", the old tree said, "I do. The fallen god was the deity of a shrine in Mount Odake, the highest peak in Hakkoda mountains. It will take you at least a month to get there."

" _A month_?" She cried incredulously, feeling her stomach drop. "That's way too long!" She had no doubt that the demon lord was thinking along the same lines as her. Bokusenou chuckled.

"It is a long time for a mortal, considering", he agreed. "Unfortunately there's nothing to it."

"What if we flew there?" She asked hopefully. Maybe Sesshomaru wouldn't mind lending her the two- headed dragon?

"I advice you to always be contact with the earth in someway", said the magnolia, "Your powers of healing mostly stem from your connection with the earth. If you are airborne for a prolonged period of time, the rate at which your body deteriorates may increase drastically." Sachiko felt a fist close tightly around her heart.

"I see", she felt her throat tighten. It was frightening to think that even as she spoke her body was slowly corroding away, that death was looming over her shoulder like a dark angel.

 _I'm twenty-one, I have barely even lived. How did my life end up this way?_

With great effort, she calmed herself and turned to face the youkai lord. "Is that okay with you?"

Sesshomaru said nothing- he barely spared her a glance before looking away. Sachiko felt a flare of anger. What would it take for him to respond like a normal person? For the umpteenth time that evening, she wondered if asking him to accompany her was the best idea.

"Ah, don't worry about Sesshomaru- sama", said the old tree wisely, "He is doing absolutely nothing of importance as of now."

Sesshomaru cast a warning look at the tree. Why was everyone under the impression that he was whiling away time? Had it been anyone else making such an insinuation, he wouldn't have spared it a second thought before dispatching them to the afterlife. However, Bokusenou was different. Even though he would never admit it to himself, (and would gladly deprive anyone who dared mention it of their tongue), the old tree was the closest thing Sesshomaru had to a friend.

He watched the woman converse with the tree about her illness. She did carry about her a slight scent of disease, but every time it peaked, it would disappear the next moment. Perhaps she was healing herself?

"Trust me Sachiko- san, when you reach the abode of the fallen god, you will know", the tree was saying, "such an amount of pollution cannot be hidden."

"So you're saying, just keep going northwards?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, thank you very much, Bokusenou- san", she bowed.

Sachiko followed Sesshomaru out of the forest to where Jaken waited impatiently with the two-headed dragon on the bank of a river.

"You're back, milord!" The imp greeted, "I have been waiting for you!" Sesshomaru walked past him as if the grovelling retainer was invisible to his eyes. The imp's gaze fell on Sachiko. "And you! You filthy human, how dare you impose upon my lord? Oh my poor lord Sesshomaru, tricked by a mere mortal woman into babysitting her!" Jaken paused, feeling a cold, intense gaze on the back of his head. Turning slowly, he set his eyes on his master staring at him with a gaze he knew didn't bode well for his health.

" _Aieee_! Not that I am saying you are one who is easily outwitted, milord! I mean, there _was_ the incidence with Naraku where he almost killed you, and then of course, how your great father shattered your expectations by giving your hanyou brother the tetsusaiga, which he ironically used to lop off your arm, and now a puny human girl...er, milord?"

Sachiko smirked darkly as she watched Sesshomaru beat-up Jaken, then trod over him as he lay groaning on the ground. Nothing the imp had said made any sense to her, except that Sesshomaru had some unresolved daddy issues. She tucked away this piece of information for future reference.

"Serves you right", she said as she walked past the kappa kissing the ground, sporting multiple bumps on his head.

"I heard that you insolent human!"

Sachiko gazed back at the forest. Through the gaps in the trees, she could make out Bokusenou's silhouette. It was strange, but she had a feeling she had been there before. Shaking off the strange sense of deja vu, she turned on her heels and walked away.

* * *

"So I'll meet you in Kagome's village in a week", she said, trying to sound cheerful. The demon lord scoffed, his fair hair glowing a fiery gold against the setting sun.

"A week is far too long", he stated impassively.

"I need time to prepare", she reasoned, "I have a life in my world; I can't just up and leave like that for a whole month and expect everything to be okay when I return." _If I return,_ she added mentally. "Besides, if I plan it correctly, I could include my summer break in our journey and even take my microbiology exam so that my grades won't..." She began prattling again, her fear and nervousness blatantly obvious to anyone.

"Hn", Sesshomaru said, more to stop her blabbing than to show his acknowledgement, quietly wondering what this 'microbiology exam' was and why it held such importance that she would willingly forfeit her health for it. She stopped mid- tirade and blinked at him with her strange jade eyes.

"Did you just...agree with me?" The demon stared at her in silence. She seemed to have misjudged his intentions- he didn't care enough to correct her. After a while, it dawned on her that she wouldn't be graced with a response. Her posture slumped and she trained her gaze on the ground, looking dejected.

Sesshomaru had the distinct impression that she didn't know what she was doing. This mysterious ailment she suffered from seemed to be one so fatal that even with all her healing powers, she couldn't stop its progression. She looked young and afraid, and if he were capable of feeling human emotions, perhaps he would have felt pitiful. The demon lord briefly closed his eyes. _What a hassle._

"A week", he said sternly, startling the human girl. "Do not be late", he warned, and then took off into the orange sky of the dusk, but not before giving her a final stink-eye.

Sachiko watched him leave, and when he was a mere dot in the distant sky, she sighed and sank down to the grassy forest floor.

It was surprising how the proud demon actually acquiesced to her request. She had been expecting a whole lot more of bargaining and pleading. Sachiko let out a heavy breath. _Thank God,_ she thought. At least she could check this one thing off the list.

It felt like eons had passed since she walked out of her apartment this morning. How did all this happen anyway? Just two weeks ago she was staring at half- naked men and getting drunk without a care in the world with Misa and Rhiannon. It felt like she was mistakenly plucked from her comfortable existence in Tokyo and placed in someone else's tumultuous, chaotic life. How could she possibly think she would survive this ordeal?

 _Will I...really die?_

"Sachiko?" Startled, she looked up at the familiar voice.

"Sango, Miroku! " She hastily got to her feet and greeted the couple. She really wasn't expecting anyone to show up in the middle of the forest; what were the odds of it being someone she actually knew? "What are you guys doing here?" She blurted reflexively. Miroku and Sango looked at each other.

"We should be the ones asking you that", Miroku reminded her. Sachiko felt bone-tired. Her life was getting way too complicated for her liking.

"It's a weird story", she said morosely.

* * *

 **Okay, that was nine-thousand plus words, and the longest chapter I have ever written in my entire life. Hopefully that made up for my longish absence.**

 **I really hope you guys like 'Blessed'. Review or PM me with your questions, suggestions and corrections. Even something like 'This was good', or 'Update soon' would do. Your feedback is a much needed ego boost for this poor author.**

 **Thank you for the many follows and favorites! Huge thanks for your reviews!**

 _ **To Daemonic, since I can't PM you:**_

 _Ohmigod,YES! I do think Kaede is a very underrated character. I think she deserves a lot more attention than she gets. I have been planning to write something like a one-shot to three-shot for her. It will be canon, depicting her life._ _Maybe one day, when I can breathe a little easier._

 _Thank you for your review and keep reading!_


	8. Of Tardiness and Homesickness

_**Disclaimer: Inuyasha belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I'm only borrowing her characters for my own nefarious purposes. Kodama belongs to Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli. Again, nefarious purposes.**_

* * *

 _ **...Of Tardiness and Homesickness...**_

 _ **...**_

 _"Do not be afraid; our fate_  
 _Cannot be taken from us; it is a gift."_  
 ** _— Dante Alighieri (Inferno (The Divine Comedy #1))_**

 _ **...**_

The week had passed by in a whirlwind.

Sachiko had been dreading the day so much that when she finally found herself standing at the base of the steps to the shrine, sporting an enormous backpack and the worn out expression of an insomniac, she couldn't help but feel that the day had come all too soon.

It was so early in the morning that it was practically nighttime. Purposely dragging out her steps, she scaled the stairs forlornly.

It had taken a fair amount of bluffing to explain everything. Sachiko had conjured a family emergency for which her presence was regrettably so unavoidable that it was imperative she had to leave a week before summer vacation started. Also, she informed her friends, she had broken the phone again, so don't try calling- her father would be catatonic if someone dared interrupt them in the middle of this urgent family business. Rhiannon had shaken her head despairingly at her lackadaisical attitude and Misa had frowned suspiciously, but both of them seemed to have bought her little white-lie. She had blabbed the phone-story to her mother as well, who, after an appropriate amount of yelling, wondered aloud why it would take a month to repair her phone, and why couldn't she visit, once in while? Sachiko had brightly assured her that she would after this _really busy, really hectic_ month, though her voice caught a little in the middle of it.

" _What's wrong, Sachiko?"_

" _It's nothing, mom."_

Well, she had always been goody-two-shoes, what with being the eldest of three and all, and had never given her parents a chance to doubt her. That, and she was good at hiding evidence of her indiscretions. Of course there were many ways by which her little lies could blow up completely, but she consoled herself that if she died, she didn't have to face the consequences, and if she lived, well, good for her- that bridge can be crossed when she got back in one piece.

Alibis in order, Sachiko had thrown herself into preparing for her long, grueling trek through feudal Japan- an era lacking telecommunications and indoor plumbing among other luxuries she had never spent a day without. _Ever._

 _How fun._

Passing under the red _Torii_ arch, she stepped into the dimly lit shrine grounds, her mood growing bleaker as she neared her destination.

"Ah Sachiko, good morning", Mrs. Higurashi greeted from a bench beneath the huge cherry tree that occupied the shrine grounds. She cracked a warm smile, burying her hands in the pockets of the jacket she had donned against the chill of the early autumn morning.

"Good morning, Mrs. Higurashi", Sachiko half-heartedly returned her smile. "You didn't have to wait here for me. It's…late", she said apologetically. _Or early, depending on how you look at it_.

"Don't be silly, I wanted to see you off", the older woman chided gently.

A cold breeze blew across the grounds, lifting the paper tassels that adorned the Goshinboku. Silently, they made their way to the well house, each quietly absorbed in their own thoughts.

"Brings back memories", Mrs. Higurashi said fondly, sighing as she slid apart the double-doors of the well house. Sachiko padded in after the older woman, her footsteps sonorous against the well-worn wood, the future ringing loud in her ears. She hadn't slept well at all the past week, thanks to her brain cheerfully playing _'what could go horribly wrong?'_ all night. And now that she was staring right at the face of what a week ago had only been a distressing idea, Sachiko felt her innate defense mechanisms beginning to kick in, just like they did on the day before a test she didn't study for- suddenly she felt too soporific to function. She briefly toyed with the idea of curling up right there on the wooden floor and sleeping forever, only to dismiss it with a sigh.

Carefully descending the wooden stairs with Mrs. Higurashi in tow, she couldn't help but wish she were rid of the tightening anxiety that coiled around her heart.

"My goodness, Sachiko", Mrs. Higurashi was saying, "How are you carrying that thing around?" The older woman gazed in awe at her enormous backpack. Sachiko shrugged and smiled awkwardly. She had stuffed everything but the kitchen-sink into the huge bag, bringing it perilously close to bursting. It would have earned her more than a few bewildered stares had it been a more reasonable time of the day.

"Well, I'll be gone for a while, so I took a lot of stuff…", she remarked open-endedly, not wanting to explain that she had enchanted it to weightlessness, thanks to the simple yet immensely handy spell Haruo had taught her after a fair amount of nagging and whining on her part.

The waterless well loomed eerily in the half-darkness. Sachiko burrowed deeper into her coat, knowing full well that the chill that crept across her skin had nothing to do with the weather. Lowering herself to the ancient wood, she watched the strange darkness swell and rise beneath her feet, waiting impatiently to pull her to its depths, its gravity both mesmerizing and terrifying at the same time.

She looked at Mrs. Higurashi, standing on the steps and watching her with a gentle expression, letting her take her time.

"You'll be fine", she said reassuringly.

Sachiko nodded, unable to speak. Though she was cynical of them, her words still comforted her troubled psyche.

This woman- this kind, maternal figure watching another girl mirroring the child she had lost to the past: what would become of her, if she failed to return? Sachiko had done her best not to be seen. Nobody had any reason to doubt she ever went to the shrine to disappear. But what if…what if the authorities one day pounded on their door and demanded the Higurashis to reveal her whereabouts?

"Mrs. Higurashi, if anything happens, I…"

"Don't worry, Sachiko. I know", she said astutely. Sachiko had no doubt that it was clear to the older woman what was in her mind. "I know", she said again softly, reassuringly. Sachiko hadn't told her about the possibility of her impending doom, yet somehow, with infallible instinct, she seemed to have sensed that not everything was alright.

"Promise me you'll come see me when you return."

Sachiko smiled. _When_ , not _if_ , she noted gratefully.

"Thank you, Mrs. Higurashi", she said when words finally found her.

"Good luck, Sachiko."

Taking a deep breath, Sachiko stared into the darkness in the well, looking her fate square in the eye. _This is it,_ Sachiko gripped the rim of the well in a white-knuckled hold, feeling the pull of destiny deep within her bones. _This is it._

 _And here I go._

She lurched.

* * *

The day had brightened considerably on the other side. Not missing a beat, Sachiko mechanically grabbed the vines and pulled herself up, ascending slowly towards the bright square of light, outside which a different, dangerous world awaited. The overstuffed backpack hung loosely on her shoulders, exerting next to nil strain on her body. Had she not enchanted it she wouldn't have been able to stand up, let alone perform the gravity-defying climb. With a final grunt she surfaced, only to face a pair of legs clad in a white hakama gathered at the ankles. Following it upwards with a weird sense of trepidation in her heart, her eyes skimmed over crossed arms tucked into the long, trailing sleeves of a kimono, finally zeroing in on the stern visage of Sesshomaru, staring down his nose disapprovingly at her.

"Hi", she greeted, already feeling nauseous.

"You are _late_ ", the daiyoukai hissed.

"What?" She dropped her backpack on the grass and pulled herself over the rim. It was only safe to assume the demon saw it as beneath him to help her up. "There's no way I can be late; it was two in the morning when I-"

Stomach dropping, she took note of her too-bright surroundings. "It's... _noon?"_ She gasped.

"Indeed", the daiyoukai remarked sarcastically.

Sachiko groaned miserably. Apparently the time-gap had grown wider since she last visited, resulting in her grossly miscalculating the time of her arrival. Punctuality had never been a strong-suit of hers, and so she had taken extra effort to arrive early. She even had to cut down on her sleep, waking up at the dead of night just so that she didn't inconvenience him any further than she already did by imposing on him.

Well, a fat lot of good that did. She could almost hear the universe laughing at her.

Sachiko swallowed nervously and put on her best apologetic face.

"I'm…sorry?"

"I told you not to be late", Sesshomaru accused, ignoring her apology. "Someone with such disregard for another's time cannot be trusted", he added icily.

Sachiko flinched. His words felt like a punch to the gut. _Cannot be…trusted?_ She mused, her spirits dampening considerably.

"I can explain; I…"

"Sesshomaru- sama!" Chirped a bright, sweet voice. Sachiko stared, wide-eyed in grateful relief, at Rin who bounded through the clearing towards them with a sunny smile on her face. "I came to see you off", she announced gleefully, panting a little due to exertion, "and you too, Sachiko-sama!"

"Thank you Rin", Sachiko beamed. Something told her that the demon wouldn't be too unpleasant with her around.

"Rin, get back here!" Jaken trotted after her on squat legs, waving his weird staff around and pulling Ah-Un's reins with his other hand. "Oh milord, here you are; I was wondering where you took off to. And _you-!"_ Jaken squared his gaze on Sachiko, "you wretch of a human, how dare you make his lordship wait for you like a common peasant! Your insolence knows no limits!"

Jaken was still yelling at her when a well-aimed rock hit him square on the back of his head, quickly stemming the flow of insults.

"Hell, I thought he'd never shut his trap", said the gruff voice of Inuyasha. "How do you stand him anyway Sesshomaru?"

"Inuyasha, that's not very nice", Kagome said carelessly, plucking a leaf from her hair, Miroku and Sango in tow. She smiled at Sachiko. "Sachiko-san, good to see you again. We have all come to wish you luck on the journey!"

"How did you know I was here?" She asked. The last time she was in the past she had met up with Miroku and Sango, who took her back to the village where she had a nice long conversation about her problems with everyone.

"We just followed Sesshomaru- he's been waiting for _hours_ ", Kagome informed.

"Ugh, I screwed up", Sachiko confessed, "the time-gap between the eras has widened from when I was last here."

"Whoa", Kagome said, "There's a time- gap?"

Sachiko blinked in surprise. "There wasn't?"

Feeling eyes on her, she stole a sideways glance at Sesshomaru. He looked annoyed, probably because of the hold-up. Then again, he always looked annoyed, so it was difficult to tell if he was especially annoyed at this minor delay.

"You know, Sachiko-san", Sango eyed the daiyoukai warily, "we wouldn't mind accompanying you."

"I know", Sachiko said miserably, "but I told you what the god said."

"Sachiko-sama", Miroku queried, "How much can you...trust this god?" Sachiko frowned. She had pondered on this question a million times ever since she had met the deity.

"I don't know", she answered truthfully. "But trusting him seems to be the best option I have." Haruo didn't seem evil to her, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that he was just using her- that she was just means to an unknown end.

Jaken had recovered and was now spewing obscenities at Inuyasha. Smirking evilly, the hanyou lifted him up by the collar of his shirt. "Such big words comin' from a tiny little toad", Inuyasha taunted, ignoring Jaken's haughty orders to put him down. "Maybe you'll grow bigger if I help you out a bit?"

"Sachiko-san", said an old voice, grabbing her attention from Jaken's pitiful screams as a grinning Inuyasha held the toad's head and feet in his hands and proceeded to lengthen his vertebral column.

"Kaede-san", she bowed respectfully.

"I have brought what you had asked for", the old priestess said.

Sachiko smiled gratefully as she accepted the longbow and the quiver of feather-tipped arrows. She was by no means a master archer, but she had been a member of the _kyudo_ club back in high school and could hit a target if it was big enough and didn't move around much. If push comes to shove, she could at least jab an arrow in someone's eye and hopefully flee to safety.

"Arigatou, Kaede-san."

"It was my pleasure. Travel safely, Sachiko", said Kaede.

"Remember, Sachiko-sama", Miroku said, "Just make up the story of an evil spirit haunting the inn and fake an exorcism if you want to take a break from sleeping in the woods." He grinned and winked charmingly. Inuyasha scoffed.

"Aren't you supposed to lead people through the path of virtue?" He remarked.

"Ah, but this I consider a service to God", Miroku said sagely.

"Erm…thanks", Sachiko told Miroku, inwardly wondering if his credentials as a monk were indeed for real.

Sesshomaru was beginning to get bored with their tedious chit-chat. Just how much of his time did she intend to waste, the disrespectful woman? He watched the girl interacting with the erstwhile travelers, each offering her tidbits of hard-earned wisdom.

"Don't eat the red mushroom with the white spots", Rin chimed in, shuddering as if reminiscing about something unpleasant. Sesshomaru had to restrain a smile. He had been present when Rin had the fateful encounter with the poisonous _benitengu-take._ That had not been a pretty episode.

"Beware of the bears!"

"And the youkai!"

"The hornets too!"

Smiling awkwardly, she nodded to all their pointers. He watched her sling the quiver on her back at gaze at the bow critically. She seemed to be acquainted with a weapon despite the cocooned life in her strange world: at least he could respect that.

 _A god?_ The daiyoukai found himself wondering, again. Had Sesshomaru not been able to sense her aura, he would have just written her off as a normal human with questionable choice in clothing. But there were hints, subtle as they were, indicating her mysterious powers. Her strange aura for one thing, the way the air seemed to be just a little cleaner around her for another, and of course, her mysterious regenerative abilities. Her aura seemed to be stronger than when he had last seen her. If it kept growing stronger, he determined, it would be like a beacon calling out every youkai around towards her. It seemed Sesshomaru had his work cut out for him.

Well, at least it would not be a boring old month without any bloodshed.

"My lord! What do you mean by that? I _want_ to come with you!" Jaken pleaded, teary-eyed, to an impassive Sesshomaru. "You're leaving without me? That too, for a whole month!"

"Jaken, are you questioning my orders?" The daiyoukai demanded, giving him his frostiest, most haughty glare. The kappa went bug-eyed and proceeded to kiss the ground reverentially.

"No milord! Forgive me!" He squealed. Sesshomaru silently regretted not taking him along; treading on him did wonders to his stress-levels. So did throwing rocks at him.

"Stay here and protect Rin", he instructed the kappa, "If any harm comes to her while I am gone, I will have your head for it."

"Yes, lord Sesshomaru", the retainer piped sorrowfully at the now routine threat, bemoaning the fact that he was being ditched in a human village to look after a human girl with an unfortunate talent for dicing with death.

Taking the reins of Ah-Un, Sesshomaru walked into the forest with nary a look at the girl, with Rin and a teary Jaken bidding him farewells.

* * *

The demon lord had traversed quite a distance when Sachiko finally caught up with him.

She had sprinted a long way, thanks to the kodama who pointed her in the right direction through the dense forest, and had to pause a bit to catch her breath. In the space of which he moved farther away.

"Hey!" He seemed to walking at a slow, deceivingly leisurely pace, yet she had to practically run to catch up with him.

"I'm here...", she said, falling back again.

"So you are", the demon replied, looking stoically ahead. It seemed he was intent on walking ahead of her, never letting her catch up to walk beside him.

A couple of minutes passed in uncomfortable silence, which was surprisingly, broken by Sesshomaru.

"I wish to reiterate the terms of our agreement."

Startled, she stared at his back. "Um, okay", she said, wondering what this was about, "I request your protection on my journey to the fallen god's location."

"Very well", said the demon lord, who then quickened his pace, causing her to fall back again.

Sachiko huffed, annoyed. _What? He's afraid of catching human cooties?_

They lapsed back into uncomfortable silence.

 _ **...**_

At least this couldn't get any worse, Sachiko tried cheering herself up.

In front of her was the stoic and beautiful...what was the word- daiyoukai, yes, daiyoukai, walking as if he didn't care if she followed or not. But apparently he did care, as evidenced by his turning back and managing to look irritable- while having absolutely no expression on his face- when she slowed her steps from time to time.

Oh who was she kidding, there was a million and one ways how this whole situation could blow over, and she didn't like any of these hypothetical situations- not one bit.

By now she had resigned herself to the fact that Sesshomaru always walked ahead, and she would always stare at his back.

Which was quite an interesting back to look at, really- his long silvery tresses, the lacquered surface of the cuirass, the sode on his left shoulder and the trailing _mokomoko-_ as Rin told her- on his right, the intricately designed, painstakingly dyed heko- obi wrapped around his waist and elaborately curtaining down his thighs, the lower armor fashioned like lotus petals... _Boy_ , she thought, analyzing the complicated ensemble, _someone_ _must take a looong time getting ready in the morning._

Three and a half hours had passed since they started from Kagome's village and nary a word was spoken, save for the occasional neighs and whines of Ah-Un who was walking loyally beside his master.

 _Is he gonna be like this for the whole month?_ Sachiko wondered. She wasn't one to fill the silence with pointless babble, and it seemed he wasn't either, but an occasional word or two couldn't hurt. It could even make this whole journey more or less bearable. She opened her mouth at the exact moment Sesshomaru turned back to look at her with those unnerving amber eyes. She heard her lower jaw hit the upper one in some weird involuntary command triggered by his gaze. _Okay... Maybe no talking_ , she thought, nervously tucking a stray strand of hair back into her ponytail. She didn't know what would set him off- it was like walking on eggshells around him.

So instead she looked to the trees at the numerous kodama, who were busy dangling from the branches, plucking out dead leaves and burying. seeds and generally going on with their idyllic life, being so commonplace that they were invisible. Sachiko thought about how, in five hundred years, all these trees would be gone. Her heart twisted a little in her chest.

One of the little creatures landed on her shoulder, as if sensing her distress.

"Hello sweetie", she cooed. "You wanna come along with us?"

Sesshomaru for his part was faced with a mild predicament. He turned his gaze backwards and discreetly watched her over his fur- pelt.

"Aren't you a cute one?" The girl fondly asked her shoulder. "Ahaha, oh you are, you are!"

It seemed he was traveling with a crazy person. Or perhaps she had some hidden powers enabling her to see...whatever it was that he couldn't see? The girl dropped her wide- eyed gaze to the ground and blew kisses at the trees.

 _No_ , the demon lord deducted- definitely nutty. _Perfect._

Cheering up a little thanks to the kodama, Sachiko stretched and adjusted the strap of her backpack on her shoulders, grateful that she had the brainwave of making it weightless. She couldn't even begin to imagine lugging around her provisions in the heat while Sesshomaru made her walk this grueling pace. She briefly considered asking him to slow down a bit but refrained, not wanting him to make that face again.

 _He must hate me,_ she thought guiltily, _Can't really blame him. I practically tricked him into coming with me._ So she grit her teeth and bore her discomfort, wiping the sweat from her brow and healing the blisters in her feet while trying her best to keep up. She was on vigilant lookout for youkai, but strangely they crossed paths with none of the monsters that had plagued her nightmares over the past week. Perhaps they were scared of the big bad youkai walking ahead?

Occasionally they would meet with a hurdle in their path- a dense growth of wilderness, a large chunk of rock- and he would cut through them all with his light-whip, with the same disinterested expression and continue to the north without ever slowing his steps. It was mesmerizing to watch, really, but it also reinforced the fact that she was travelling with someone who wouldn't hesitate to cut down a living body in a similar fashion, sending an unpleasant chill down her spine.

And then night was upon them.

Sachiko had to trip over three different roots and step on something soft and suspiciously sticky before Sesshomaru pronounced it too dark for her feeble human sight to enable her to proceed.

He alighted on a high branch of the tall beech tree to the side, as if trying to be as far away as possible from the earth he was forced to share with her. Sachiko made a small bonfire under it with the dried twigs she had been collecting all day, mentally thanking the makers of the YouTube videos she had studiously been watching. She looked up the tree, trying to spot him in the shadows fruitlessly.

"Umm...", she ventured aloud, ears pricked for response. She cleared her throat when there was none. She cleared her throat again.

"Yes", she heard his bored voice from above.

"Uh, I was wondering", she piped, swatting away a bug that had alighted on her arm "Is there a lake or something around here? I would like to erm...bathe."

"Yes", came the reply.

"Really?" She said hopefully, the prospect of a bath cheering her a little, "Which way?"

"Two hours to the west."

Her forehead creased in a frown. "Isn't that too far away?"

"...Indeed", he replied sardonically. It took her a while to realize he was taunting her. _Okay, no bath then._ Sachiko huffed and took out her textbook, turning two pages before closing it. It was more difficult than anticipated to read in the quivering firelight. Also she was saving the flashlight for life-or-death situations that were sure to come her way. Well, not studying was the path of least resistance anyway. Her stomach gave a little rumble.

"You want some dinner?" she asked brightly.

"No", the tree said.

"Why?"

"I don't eat human food", came the clipped reply. This remark left her confused. What other kind of food was there anyway? Almost everything edible around was technically 'human food'. Perhaps he was munching on some leaves as he spoke, or maybe dislodging larvae from under the bark? Her rather bored mind supplied the intriguing, albeit disturbing image of Sesshomaru meddling amidst ant hills with his long narrow tongue like an armadillo.

 _I'm so bored I am starting to go crazy,_ she shook her head and rummaged in her backpack for food.

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" She asked almost desperately.

"I want you to be quiet."

 _Alrighty then,_ Sachiko huffed indignantly, cheeks aflame with humiliation, and opened one of her food packets. _Where did all the Kodama go?_ She wondered idly, watching the two-headed dragon languidly graze on the undergrowth. Maybe the grumpy daiyoukai had scared them off?

It felt awkward eating on her own, but she decided to grit her teeth and get it over with, pretending he was not there. As a result she became even more acutely aware of his presence, and thus dinner, which she was actually looking forward to, became a chore. With a sigh, she placed what remained of her food packet inside the container, suddenly seeming to have lost her appetite.

 _Is anything going to go right for me here?_ She wondered forlornly.

"Hey", she asked aloud. She could have felt his eye-roll from a mile away. "What are the sleeping arrangements?"

A moment of silence passed after this question. Somewhere, an owl hooted.

"As far as possible from each other." No one could have sounded more bored if they tried.

"Wh-what? " she stammered, cheeks burning. "No, I meant-! What I asked was-! ", _Great going Sachiko, smooth as frikkin' butter_. She sighed and took a moment to collect herself.

"I _meant_ ", she said with as much dignity as she could muster, "Aren't we supposed to take turns keeping watch or something?" It seemed she had to wait awhile for a response every time she asked a question. She closed her eyes and began to count.

"You intend...to keep watch?"

 _Twelve._ "Well, that would be safer right? I mean, with all the youkai around?"

"And what do you plan to do if a youkai appears?"

"Well I will...have to wake you...", she felt pathetically stupid.

"...And thus your question is answered."

The owl hooted again, as if laughing at her stupidity.

"So...you're not gonna sleep?" She queried, just to be sure. There was no response. Sachiko took a deep breath and tried to refrain herself from pulling out her hair _. I guess that means yes,_ she thought grumpily. _Maybe it's a youkai thing. Or maybe he's just trying to be a humongous prick. Because hey, let's make her life more difficult. Sure, why the hell not?_ The fire was beginning to burn low on its bed. A sudden strong gust of wind blew it out, enveloping her in darkness. Sachiko wanted to scream.

She could have sworn she heard him scoff from up the tree.

 _Stupid demon with his stupid superiority complex_ , she sighed and lit the fire again, feeding it some dry leaves as tinder.

"It's not like I have done stuff like this before, so give me a break, okay?" She sullenly rearranged the burning timbers.

The demon lord snorted mockingly from the tree. Sachiko gritted her teeth, viciously poking the fire. What had she done to deserve this? It seemed all Sesshomaru used his mouth was for mocking her and reducing her self esteem to a blubbering mess. He didn't even seem to have an interest in comfortable conversation.

A perverse part of her mind started listing a couple of productive things Sesshomaru could probably do for her with his arguably shapely mouth. Sachiko caught herself in the nick of time and tried to dispel those delicious images from her mind, her face suddenly warm. He was shaping out to be so much of a jerk that she was actually starting to feel attracted _. Bad hormones!_ She chided, _we talked about this!_

"Maybe you should try being a bit less difficult, you know", She irately shook out her sleeping bag. "I know I kind'a put you on the spot asking you to travel with me, but the least we could do is be civil to each other. Otherwise this is going to be an unbearable month for both of us."

Sachiko waited for a response and rolled her eyes when there was none. Sighing, she lied down on the sleeping bag, zipping herself in. It was then that Sesshomaru decided to hit her with a cold dose of reality.

"Tell me human, I am curious", he proposed, "How do you plan on killing this fallen god? "

Sachiko shot up, sleeping bag and all, looking like a burrito folded in the middle.

"What?" She mouthed, sleep summarily dismissed. " _Kill?"_ She asked incredulously. On the tree, the demon lord smirked.

"Surely you weren't planning on asking him _nicely_ for his heart?" he said in a silky voice. Realization suddenly hit her like a sack of bricks. Sachiko wanted to slam her head against a rock. She had been so caught up in the details that she completely missed the big picture!

 _I'm screwed,_ she thought, _I just set out like an idiot for this journey forgetting that I had to actually kill this god to take his heart!_

"Well, human?" She could actually see the smug, self satisfied smirk on demon lord's face despite him being outside the circle of firelight. "I was under the impression you wanted to converse."

Two can play that game, she thought.

"I...guess I'll cross that bridge when I get there", she said flippantly, punctuating the declaration with a wide yawn. "And while we are at it, my name is Sachiko, not _'human'_ ", she yawned again for added effect, "Well, good night Sesshomaru- _sama_ , nice talk." She lay down and turned to her side, wide-awake and jittery like she had consumed a gallon of Red Bull with a side of fifty espressos.

 _Okay,_ she thought, trying to calm herself, _okay, all I need to do is go to sleep, find Haruo, and ask him how to kill a god. Yeah, that's a nice plan. Rational even. Well done Sachiko. Okay, going to sleep. Going, going... Anytime now...Eyes feeling heavy...Time to catch the zzzzs!_

Whilst his frazzled human charge was trying ineffectually to hypnotize herself to sleep, Sesshomaru, sitting on his high perch, was feeling a tad disappointed.

In truth, Sesshomaru hadn't accepted her request only because he was bound by his honor. He had wanted to meet this earthbound deity, not because he was feeling charitable towards a girl who didn't stand a chance against her own shadow- let alone a god, but because he wanted the fight. Of course he could have done without the insufferable human dragging him down for a whole month, but Sesshomaru decided it couldn't be helped. She did save Rin's life, after all.

Damnable honor.

 _Sesshomaru the Godslayer_ \- that had such a nice ring to it.

If she finally came to her senses and pleaded assistance, he would make sure she had groveled enough to turn herself into a hopeless, pathetic mess before he even considered agreeing to slay the god. It was obvious she couldn't do it on her own- if he chose to leave her, she wouldn't last five minutes in the forest. And if she foolishly went ahead with her hopeless quest and got herself killed, well, he could still fight the god without her. After all, he had only promised his protection till she found this fallen god. What happened after was none of his concern.

It was a win, no matter how he looked at it. Sesshomaru looked down at the sleep-deprived girl mumbling numbers under her breath, feeling the corners of his mouth lift up in a smug smirk.

 _One hundred seventy-five, one hundred seventy-six, one hundred seventy-seven..._ , Sachiko could not even concentrate enough to count sheep, not with her mind tormenting her with highly vivid images of herself being torn to shreds after each number. Here she was, the stupidest person to ever walk the earth, stuck in the middle of a forest with a snob of a demon who was downright hostile, on a journey towards certain death. There was a prickling sensation on the back of her hand. She turned it over just in time to see the burnt patch of skin vanish under the green light of her healing power.

Her throat tightened up. She suddenly missed her family. She missed Rhiannon and Misa. She missed her apartment; she missed the freeloading tomcat that came with it. What was she even doing here?

 _Try and get some sleep_ , she told herself gently, _Worrying only means you suffer twice, and you can always do that tomorrow morning._ The fire died down again. She didn't have the heart to light another one.

She turned over and listlessly stared at the stars, twinkling about without a care for her suffering. Just like a certain youkai who was somewhere up in the shadowy branches. Who didn't essentially twinkle, but did glower a lot.

 _Stupid stars. Stupid Sesshomaru._

Sleep seemed reluctant to approach her. Sachiko sighed. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

She was being watched.

Sachiko frowned, still skimming the surface of a light, perilously fragile sleep. She was cold and her throat was itchy, and beyond the warm insulation her slumber provided, a dark thought loomed, waiting to cast its evil shadow over her vulnerable psyche the moment the thin barrier cracked. Her body gently burrowed into the warm softness underneath her, clinging desperately to the semi- conscious peace of the somnolent.

But someone was staring at her. Quite hostilely too.

Sachiko softly moaned and tried to hold on to the slowly breaking surface of her sleep. Somewhere beyond her, a throat was cleared pointedly.

And that did the job.

Slowly, deliberately, she cracked open her aching eyes, her brain despairingly demanding _five more minutes!_ as it was, quite clearly, not yet its working hours. Pulling herself up agonizingly, Sachiko slumped where she sat, letting memory reassert itself and waiting for the dread and fear to settle back in the pit of her stomach where they seemed to have taken up permanent residence. All that done, she slowly lifted her gaze to her companion's face. Which, while being a strikingly handsome face, wasn't exactly a pleasant sight to wake up to. Especially when it was glowering at her as if plotting her murder.

"Hng", she greeted. She didn't have the heart to wish him a good morning.

"We are leaving soon", the daiyoukai announced, turning on his heel and walking away.

 _Someone's in a hurry,_ Sachiko sighed and buried her face in her hands, rubbing sleep from her eyes. Shuffling away from the tempting warmth of her sleeping bag, she stood up, the dew that had soaked into her shirt making her shiver a little. Her muscles still ached from the exertions of the previous day. She longingly gazed at her sleeping bag.

 _Well, guess what? I get to walk my ass off again today! Isn't that just great?_

Groaning, Sachiko shook her head and forced herself to think positively. Her whining was beginning to get on her own nerves. So what if she had been dealt a bad hand? She could still make the best of it. The forest stirring from sleep was deep and beautiful, the air was crisp and cool and her sore throat from sleeping in the dew would probably get better by noon. The sun was still a golden orange disc in the sky, and though it was too early to be awake, the pink and orange hues of the heavens was a sight to behold.

Smiling to herself, Sachiko took a deep breath and stretched. It was going to be a beautiful day; she could feel it.

Her smile stopped short when she felt something close around her wrists with a _clink_. The golden shackles chimed when she pulled her hands together to examine them, her face pale.

She looked up at Sesshomaru staring pointedly at her.

"Well?" He enunciated, his eyes flicking towards her wrists from her panicked face. "Stop wasting my time, human."

"Erm...", Sachiko said, "Funny story...", she trailed off cautiously. Sesshomaru raised a snobbish eyebrow. Sachiko sighed.

Things were not looking good for her.

* * *

 **Oh, someone's made a wish! Who could that be? And how will Sesshy react to it?**

 **So there ya have it, I hope you liked it. Any queries are welcome, suggestions are appreciated, and if you find any plot holes, do PM me. Thank you for all the favorites, the follows and the reviews! See you next update!**

 **Thank you** **,** **Kris Fury! Flying kisses!**

 **A haiku for you:**

 _Raindrops shatter_

 _On the pink of cherry blossoms_

 _Please leave a review._


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